Just the other day, I was exploring my world with Triangle Bob and we found a place my animator forgot to design.

就在前幾天，我和 Triangle Bob 一起探索我們的世界，然後我們找到了一個動畫師忘記設計的地方。

The end of my world is just a big, scary cliff to nowhere!

我的世界邊界是一個巨大，無邊無際的可怕懸崖！

But you can float around, so it's kinda cool.

不過你可以浮在空中，所以還是挺酷的啦。

It did have me wondering though, what's at the end of your universe?

這不禁讓我想知道，你們的宇宙邊界有什麼東西呢？

If we want to know what's at the end of the universe, we should start at the beginning.

如果我們想知道宇宙邊界有些什麼，就必須從宇宙的起源開始。

There are many different ideas for how our universe began, but the most popular one is the Big Bang Theory.

對於宇宙的起源有許多說法，其中最主流的學說就是「大霹靂」(註：Big Bang Theory 也是一部美國影集的名字)

Nope, guys get out of here!

噢不是你們，你們出去啦！

The Big Bang Theory was first proposed in the 1920's, saying that the universe once started out super small.

「大霹靂」在 1920 年代第一次被提出，它認為我們的宇宙在剛開始非常微小，

From its tiny beginnings, the universe stretched and expanded until it became as big as it is now.

宇宙就從一開始的微小，一直不斷延展到現在的大小。

According to NASA, if we looked at the universe one second after the Big Bang, we would most likely see a 10-billion degree sea of particles, such as neutrons, protons, and electrons.

根據 NASA 的說法，如果我們觀察大爆炸後一秒的宇宙，我們可能會看到溫度為 100 億 K (克氏溫標) 的大量粒子，如中子、質子和電子等。

That's really hot!

那真的很熱呀！

As everything expanded and took up more space, it all cooled down.

隨著宇宙不斷擴張，占據更多空間之後，萬物都冷卻下來。

Particles grouped together and formed atoms.

粒子們聚集在一起，組成了原子。

These atoms gave birth to stars and galaxies and molecules, and eventually the universe was filled with all the planets, people, and lovable internet friends that you have today!

這些原子構成了星體、星系和分子，最後形成了填滿宇宙的星球，以及居住其上的人類和你可愛的網友！

And that's not all.

不只這樣。

Our universe could still be expanding and stretching, and might do so for a very long time.

我們的宇宙目前仍有延展性，這個狀態可能還會持續一段很長的時間。

Maybe forever!

或許是永遠呢！

It's all super cool to think about, but why is the Big Bang the leading theory?

這些東西想像起來真的都很酷！不過，為何「大霹靂」是主流學說呢？

Do we have any proof?

我們有任何證據嗎？

Well, around the same time that the Big Bang Theory was introduced, no guys!

這個嘛，當「大霹靂」理論被提出後的這段時間─噢！你們！

Please get out of here!

請先離開好嗎！

I'm not talking about you.

我不是在講你們。

Edwin Hubble made an interesting observation.

Edwin Hubble 做了一個有趣的觀察。

He noticed that other galaxies were moving away from us in all directions.

他注意到其他星系正各自以不同方向遠離我們。

Not only that, but the farther apart galaxies were from us, the faster they would seem to be moving away.

不僅如此，原先距離我們越遠的星系，遠離我們的速度看起來也越快。

Hubble's observation was so important because it showed that the universe is still expanding.

Hubble 的發現非常重要，因為它證明了宇宙正在持續擴張。

If things are moving apart, it stands to reason they were once closer together.

如果大家都在分離，那就證明了我們曾經是靠近的。

The discovery of the cosmic microwave background, or CMB for short, also helped give credit to the Big Bang Theory.

而微波背景輻射 (或簡稱 CMB) 的發現，也有助於大霹靂理論的可信度。

Since the Big Bang says that our early universe was a very hot place that eventually cooled down, there should be leftover radiation.

由於大霹靂理論表示我們的宇宙早期是個非常炎熱的地方，但最終冷卻了下來，因此宇宙中應該會有殘餘的輻射。

Robert Wilson and Arno Penzias were the first to find the radiation while they were building a radio receiver.

Robert Wilson 和 Arno Penzias 在建置無線電接收器時首次發現這個輻射。

Since then, we've learned a lot about the CMB from missions such as NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer and the Wilkinson Anisotropy Probe.

從那時開始，我們從 NASA 的衛星任務中認識了更多微波背景輻射的知識，這些衛星有「宇宙背景探測者」或「威爾金森微波各向異性探測器」等等。

We now know that CMB radiation is not only very cold, close to absolute zero in fact, but it's also pretty uniform throughout the universe.

我們現在知道，微波背景輻射除了溫度非常接近絕對零度，在宇宙各處的性質也很一致。

This uniformity is why it makes sense that it all came from one place, like the Big Bang.

這種一致性說明了這些輻射皆來自同一個地方，例如大霹靂。

So, if the universe is still expanding, what's at the end of it?

所以，如果宇宙仍在持續擴張，那宇宙的盡頭有著什麼呢？

Well, we can't know for sure right now and there's a good chance that we never will.

這個嘛，我們目前無法確定，而我們也絕不會有可能性去確認。

That's because the universe doesn't just seem to be expanding, but also getting faster as it does.

那是因為宇宙不僅是看起來在擴張，也擴張得越來越快。

If it doesn't stop, we'll probably never be able to find a way to go fast enough to reach it, since we believe it's already expanding faster than the speed of light.

如果它不停止，我們可能永遠無法找到足夠趕上它擴張速度的方法，因為我們認為它的擴張速度已經比光速還快了。

Maybe one day somehow we'll find out, but until then me and Triangle Bob are going to float in the nothingness.

或許某天我們會找出探索邊境的方法，但在那之前我和 Triangle Bob 都要一直漂浮在虛無之中。

It's really calming!

這裡真的很平靜！

Wait a minute...is that my dad?

等等...那是我爸爸嗎？

So what do you think is at the end of the universe?

你們覺得宇宙的盡頭是什麼呢？

Let me know in the comment section below!

在下方留言區讓我們知道你的想法吧！

Curious to know if there are actual parallel universes?

想知道現實中是否有平行宇宙嗎？

Check out this video!

看看這部影片吧！

As always, my name is Blocko and this has been Life Noggin.

如同以往，我是 Blocko，這裡是 Life Noggin。

Don't forget to keep on thinking!

別忘記持續思考喔！