Name: TED】Carrie Nugent:小行星獵人歷險記(小行星獵人歷險記|Carrie Nugent) (【TED】Carrie Nugent: Adventures of an asteroid hunter (Adventures of an asteroid hunter | Carrie Nugent))
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T07:24:26.000Z
Duration: 6 min 7 s

我手中拿的是一個非常古老的東西。

older than the continents and the oceans between them.

This was formed over four billion years ago

This rusty lump of nickel and iron may not appear special,

這一塊生鏽的鎳鐵， 看起來可能沒有什麼特別之處。

you can see that it is different from earthly metals.

你會發現它與地球的金屬不同。

This pattern reveals metallic crystals that can only form out in space

它的紋路顯示它是只能在 太空中形成的金屬晶體。

where molten metal can cool extremely slowly,

在太空中，熔化了的金屬， 可以以極慢的速度冷卻。

This was once part of a much larger object,

這是一個比它 大很多的物體的一部分。

one of millions left over after the planets formed.

星球形成後，它是 數百萬被遺落的物體之一。

Asteroids are our oldest and most numerous cosmic neighbors.

小行星是我們宇宙鄰居裡 最古老和為數最多的。

This graphic shows near-Earth asteroids orbiting around the Sun,

這幅圖像展示了靠近地球的小行星 繞太陽運轉。

它們活躍於地球繞行軌道附近，

The sizes of the Earth, Sun and asteroids have been greatly exaggerated

為了讓大家看得清楚， 圖中的地球、太陽和小行星

Teams of scientists across the globe are searching for these objects,

世界各地的科學家團隊 都在尋找這些物體。

這項工作大部分是由 美國國家航空暨太空總署資助的。

I think of the search for these asteroids as a giant public works project,

我覺得，搜尋小行星的工作， 是極為浩大的公共工程項目，

but instead of building a highway, we're charting outer space,

我們為太空製圖， 而不是在建高速公路，

building an archive that will last for generations.

並建立著能夠世代延續的檔案。

These are the 1,556 near-Earth asteroids discovered just last year.

光是去年，科學家就發現了 1556 顆近地小行星。

And these are all of the known near-Earth asteroids,

圖上的這些，是我們已知的 全部近地小行星。

根據最近的統計， 總數是 13,733 顆。

每一顆小行星， 都已經被繪圖和編入目錄，

and had its path around the Sun determined.

它繞太陽運行的軌跡， 也都已經被確定。

Although it varies from asteroid to asteroid,

the paths of most asteroids can be predicted for dozens of years.

它們大多數在未來幾十年的 運行軌跡都可以被預測。

And the paths of some asteroids can be predicted with incredible precision.

有一些小行星的軌跡， 可以被無比精確地預測。

For example, scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

舉個例子來講， 噴氣推進實驗室的科學家們，

predicted where the asteroid Toutatis was going to be four years in advance

提前四年預測了 圖塔迪斯小行星的位置，

Toutatis traveled 8.5 billion kilometers.

Now, the reason I have this beautiful asteroid fragment

我之所以有手中 這塊美麗的小行星碎片，

是因為，像所有的人類鄰居一樣，

asteroids sometimes drop by unexpectedly.

a small asteroid exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia.

一顆小型的小行星在俄羅斯的 車里雅賓斯克市上方爆炸。

當時，這塊物體的 截面長度大約為 19 米，

Objects of this size hit the Earth every 50 years or so.

大約每五十年， 就會有這樣體積的物體撞擊地球。

一個還要大很多的物體撞擊了地球，

75 percent of plant and animal species were lost,

百分之 75 的動植物 物種都徹底消失，

That object was about 10 kilometers across,

當時的物體截面長度 長達 10 公里。

and 10 kilometers is roughly the cruising altitude of a 747 jet.

10 公里差不多是一架 波音 747 的飛行高度。

snag a window seat, look out and imagine a rock so enormous

選一個臨窗的座位，然後想像一下

It's so wide that it takes your plane one full minute to fly past it.

你的飛機需要飛整整一分鐘 才能越過它的寬度。

That's the size of the asteroid that hit the Earth.

這就是撞擊地球的 那顆小行星的尺寸。

that asteroids have been considered a credible threat to our planet.

小行星才被認為 是我們星球的一個威脅。

And since then, there's been a focused effort underway

I am lucky enough to be part of this effort.

我非常幸運能夠參與這一個工作。

I'm part of a team of scientists that use NASA's NEOWISE telescope.

我是使用 NASA NEOWISE  望遠鏡的科學家團隊一員。

Now, NEOWISE was not designed to find asteroids.

要知道，NEOWISE  並不是為搜尋小行星設計的。

It was designed to orbit the earth and look far beyond our solar system

它是為了能夠繞行地球 以遙望太陽系之外，

to seek out the coldest stars and the most luminous galaxies.

為了尋找最寒冷的星球和 最明亮的星系而設計的。

And it did that very well for its designed lifetime of seven months.

在七個月的既定壽命中， 它很出色地完成了任務。

But today, six years later, it's still going.

但六年後的今天，它還在運轉。

We've repurposed it to discover and study asteroids.

我們將它的用途變成了 搜尋和研究小行星。

And although it's a wonderful little space robot,

雖然它是個非常出色的 太空小機器人，

The cryogen that used to refrigerate its sensors is long gone,

用於傳感器的製冷劑 很早以前就消耗殆盡了，

so we joke that its air-conditioning is broken.

It's got 920 million miles on the odometer,

它的里程表上， 已經有了 9.2 億英里，

and reliably takes a photograph of the sky every 11 seconds.

它每 11 秒就會拍一張天空的照片。

It's taken 23 photos since I began speaking to you.

從我開始演講到現在， 它已經拍了 23 張照片了。

One of the reasons NEOWISE is so valuable

NEOWISE 如此寶貴的原因之一是，

is that it sees the sky in the thermal infrared.

它是通過熱紅外線觀測天空的。

That means that instead of seeing the sunlight that asteroids reflect,

這意味著，NEOWISE 看到的 不是小行星折射的陽光，

This is a vital capability since some asteroids are as dark as coal

這種能力至關重要， 因為有些小行星暗如黑炭，

and can be difficult or impossible to spot with other telescopes.

幾乎不可能被其他的望遠鏡觀測到。

But all asteroids, light or dark, shine brightly for NEOWISE.

Astronomers are using every technique at their disposal

在 NEOWISE 的眼中， 都一樣熠熠閃耀。

天文學家們正在利用他們所有的技術

In 2010, a historic milestone was reached.

The community, together, discovered over 90 percent of asteroids

2010 年，一項歷史性的 里程碑得以樹立。

通過研究者的共同努力， 我們已經發現了超過 90%

TED】Carrie Nugent:小行星獵人歷險記(小行星獵人歷險記|Carrie Nugent) (【TED】Carrie Nugent: Adventures of an asteroid hunter (Adventures of an asteroid hunter | Carrie Nugent))

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TED】Carrie Nugent:小行星獵人歷險記(小行星獵人歷險記|Carrie Nugent) (【TED】Carrie Nugent: Adventures of an asteroid hunter (Adventures of an asteroid hunter | Carrie Nugent))

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