Pat: Yeah?

Pat：嗯？

Ian: Two weeks ago you wrote "Pat's Special Surprise" in the idea doc.

Ian：2 個星期前你寫了「Pat 的大驚喜」在文案裡

Pat: Yeah? What about it?

Pat：對，如何？

Ian: What is that?

Ian：那是什麼？

Pat: Ian. Picture this.

Pat：Ian，讓我們來想像一下

a theatrical episode of Life Noggin!

一個劇場式的 Life Noggin 影片！

Ian: No

Ian：不要

Pat: Titled "Life Noggin On Stage"

Pat：標題是「舞台上的 Life Noggin」

What do you think!?

你覺得如何？

Ian: Pat did you already do it?

Ian：Pat，你是不是已經做了？

Is that where you've been going at night?

你最近晚上是不是都在做這個？

Ian: Pat!?

Ian：Pat？！

Hey There! Welcome to Life Noggin!

嘿！大家好，歡迎來到 Life Noggin！

65 million years ago, an asteroid about 10 kilometers wide struck the surface of the

6 千 5 百萬年前，一顆直徑 10 公里的小行星撞擊地球表面

Earth and killed off the dinosaurs.

使恐龍銷聲匿跡

This obviously wasn't great and now, people and organizations are working hard to prevent

這顯然不是好事，現在人們與許多機構正努力避免

this from ever happening again.

這樣的情況再次發生

The last thing we want is for humans to be wiped out.

我們最不想要的就是人類被抹除在這世界上

because then, who's gonna watch our videos?

因為這樣的話，誰來看我們的影片？

There's actually a chance that an asteroid called Bennu that's about 500 meters in

事實上這是有可能的，有一顆小行星，Bennu，直徑大約 500 公尺

diameter will strike Earth in about 200 years, which is pretty soon when you think about it.

大約 200 年內可能會撞擊地球，仔細想想其實很快就到了

Sure, it's only a one in 2,700 chance, but scientists are beginning to prepare for the worst.

當然，這只是 1/2700 的機率，但科學家已經開始準備應對最糟的情況

Bennu is one of many potential threats in our solar system.

Bennu 小行星只是我們太陽系中眾多潛在威脅之一

There are about 15,000 Near Earth Asteroids catalogued by NASA and while the chance of

美國太空總署編入了大約 15,000 個近地小行星

any of them hitting is small, NASA's Office of Planetary Defense has 3 pretty viable options

雖然它們撞擊地球的可能性都很低，美國太空總署的行星防禦辦公室還是盡其所能擬定 3 個可行的選擇

in their tool belt to protect us.

來保護我們

The first is the Gravity Tractor approach.

第一個是引力牽引方案

A spacecraft would fly up to an asteroid and set up shop right beside it.

一艘太空船將會飛到小行星旁並一直跟著它

After a few years, the presence of a nearby object would alter the gravity of the asteroid,

幾年過後，鄰近物體的存在將會改變小行星的引力

shifting it's trajectory, and rerouting it away from Earth!

改變它的軌道，並使它遠離地球！

We wouldn't even need to touch it.

我們甚至不需要碰到它

Another idea is a bit more… violent than the Gravity Tractor method.

另一個主意比引力牽引法還要…激烈點

Enter the Hyper-velocity Asteroid Mitigation Mission for Emergency Response, or HAMMER.

輸入，極速小行星緩解任務應急反應器，或是「錘子 (HAMMER)」

Is there, like, a committee of cool people who chooses these names?

是不是有一個由超酷的人們組成的委員會來選擇這些名字？

The idea is that we'd launch a spacecraft equipped with its very own nuclear weapon.

這個想法是，我們發射一艘裝備核武的太空船

If a big asteroid starts to approach Earth, we'd be able to detonate the nuclear warhead,

如果一顆大型小行星接近地球，我們就能引爆核彈頭

blowing off a chunk of the asteroids surface, changing its direction to save Earth!

吹走一大塊小行星表面，改變它的行進方向來拯救地球！

The last is the Kinetic Impactor technique.

最後一個是動力衝擊技術

This seems to be the most straight forward plan and would only require us to nudge an

這似乎是最直接的方法，我們只需要以正確的方法輕輕推一下

asteroid in just the right way to shift its path.

小行星，改變它的路徑

It's so simple and thankfully, we were already able to do this on a small scale with a comet in 2005.

這相當簡單，謝天謝地我們在西元 2005 年已經能在彗星上達到一些成效

And that is definitely promising, but a comet is actually quite different than an asteroid.

那絕對是非常有希望的，但彗星與小行星事實上還是有很大的差異

Asteroids are made up of rocks and metals, while comets are more ice, gas, dust and rock.

小行星是由岩石與金屬組成，彗星則含有更多冰、氣體、塵埃與岩石

The size of asteroids range from just 2 meters to 1,000 km!

小行星的大小從 2 公尺到 1,000 公里！

Comets are typically less than 10 km wide.

彗星基本上小於 10 公里寬

Both objects orbit the sun, but comets are further out.

兩種物體都繞著太陽運行，但彗星更遠一點

They often have tails behind them because as they orbit closer to the sun, the ice and

兩者通常都會帶著尾巴，因為當它們運行得靠近太陽一些時，組成物體的冰與塵埃

dust they're made of begin to vaporize, creating that trail we can sometimes see from Earth.

會開始蒸發，形成我們偶爾能在地球看到的尾巴

Another type of space object we see down here are meteors.

另一種我們在地球上能看到的太空物體就是流星

When a small part of an asteroid breaks off after a collision and is vaporized in Earth's

當小行星的一部分在碰撞後分離出來，並在地球的大氣層中汽化

atmosphere, streaks of light appear in the sky.

條紋狀的光線就會出現在天空

This is what people often mistake for shooting stars, but it's purely part of an asteroid

這就是人們常誤解的流星，但純粹只是小行星的一部分

burning up above us.

在我們的上空燃燒

How beautiful!

多美啊！

There's always a lot of space activity going on around our beautiful planet, and most of

在我們的美麗星球周邊總是有許多太空活動正在進行，且大多時候

the time, it's harmless, but threats do exist.

它是無害的，但威脅也確實存在

Before we can protect ourselves, we need to know the threats are there.

在我們能保護自己之前，我們需要知道威脅所在

The International Asteroid Warning Network is dedicated to finding, following and analyzing

國際小行星警報網致力於發現、追蹤與分析

Near Earth asteroids and just last year, a group of astronomers successfully carried

近地小行星，就在去年，一群天文學家成功進行

out the first international asteroid tracking exercise and it went really well.

第一次國際小行星追蹤演習，並且進展順利

Once we know about any dangerous asteroids, space agencies can decide how to respond in

一旦我們知道任何有危害的小行星，太空機構就能決定如何回應

order to save you and your planet.

好拯救你跟你的星球

What other space questions do you have for me?

你還有什麼樣的太空問題想問呢？

Let me know in the comment section below.

在評論欄留言給我

Click here to subscribe and hit the bell button, so you're notified every time we post a new video.

點擊訂閱並打開提醒小鈴鐺，這樣我們每次發布影片你都能收到提醒

and check out this video here!

還有看看這部影片吧！

Thank you so much for watching!

非常感謝你的收看！

As always, my name is Blocko, this has been Life Noggin, don't forget to keep on thinking!

一如往常，我的名字是 Blocko，這是 Life Noggin，別忘了持續思考！