玄黄端现，太极混沌如鸡蛋， ln the beginning, there was darkness...
随着轰的一声 and then, bang...
诞生了无限膨胀的时间、空间和物质。 giving birth to an endless expanding existence...of time, space, and matter.
现在所见超乎我们的想象 Now, see further than we've ever imagined...
超越了客观认知极限， beyond the limits of our existence...
那地方我们称之为“宇宙”。 in a place we call "The Universe."
它们数个世纪里激起了人们的好奇 They've intrigued man for centuries...
同样迷惑着天文学家和占星家 captivating astronomers and astrologers alike.
在吉萨大金字塔和猎户星座之间 A mysterious alignment...
神秘地排成一条直线 between the great pyramids of Giza and the stars of Orion...
不只是一种巧合 could have been more than a coincidence.
不是黄道十二宫星座 And instead of12 zodiac constellations...
其实是有十三宫 we actually have 13.
第13个是什么？为何会被忘却呢？ What is our13th sign, and why was it forgotten?
这些图形曾经引领船员穿越危险的水域 The patterns that once navigated mariners...across treacherous waters...
现在又引领天文学家去解开星座里隐藏的秘密 now guide astronomers to uncover the mysteries...that lie within "The Constellations."
宇宙第二季第十集
星座 Constellations
自互联网和电影问世之前 Before the lnternet, before movies...
夜空和星座 the night sky and the constellations...
是最有看头的表演 were the greatest show in town.
这个群星画廊远胜过美丽的图画 This gallery of stars forms more thanjust pretty pictures.
它包括了各类星星的巨大采样 lt contains an enormous sampling of star types.
通过星座 Through constellations...
我们可以认识星系乃至宇宙的很多东西 we can learn a lot about the galaxy...and the universe beyond.
在我们的高科技导航设备GPS乃至罗盘问世之前 Before we had high-tech navigation devices...GPS, or even compasses...
我们就有了星星 we had stars.
宛如路标 Like landmarks along the road...
星座能帮助我们找路 constellations can help us find our way.
它们给了我们方向、距离 They give us direction, distance...
和目标感 and a sense of where to go.
在地球上我们想说出东西的位置时 So on Earth, when we want to tell where something is...
会给出其经纬度坐标 we give its coordinates in latitude and longitude.
地球上所表示的意思是一种尺度 And what that means on Earth is a measure of...
纬度就是南北极之间距离的尺度 latitude is a measure of the distance...between the North Pole and the South Pole...
而经度则是另一个方向 东西距离的尺度 and longitude is the east-west distance...from the other direction.
同样我们也有一个星空坐标系统 Similarly, we have a celestial coordinate system.
然而这个坐标 But the coordinates...
并不叫做纬度和经度 they're not called latitude and longitude.
而是叫做赤纬和赤经 They're called declination and right ascension.
它们只是地球的经纬度直接延展 They are just the direct extensions...of latitude and longitude on Earth...
投射到空中 projected out into the sky.
古代航海家利用这个虚构的网格 Ancient navigators used this imaginary grid...
来划分群星并引领他们飘洋过海 to plot stars and orient themselves across the seas.
不是那种精准的方向指示器 Not a precise kind of indicator of direction...
但无疑是一个指示 提醒人们 but certainly a cue to keep people reminded...
越洋通道的模样 of what the broad pathways through the seas might be.
依靠六分仪 By using a sextant...
船员能够利用北极星之类的引路星来导航 mariners were able to use guide stars like Polaris...to navigate.
这是架六分仪 This is a sextant.
是天文导航的工具 lt's a tool used in celestial navigation.
一旦一个天体对准了 Once a celestial body hits...
这个所谓的水平度盘的下翼 what's called this lower limb to the horizon...
我们就标记其位置 we mark the position.
利用六分仪上的刻度和数字 Using the time and the numbers on this sextant...
你就可以用它来定位你在海上的位置 you can then use it in fixing your position at sea.
现在导航利用人造星：卫星 Today's navigation uses manmade stars: satellites.
利用卫星本身 With the use of our manmade stars per se...
我们GPS的位置 导航差分GPS our GPS positions and differential GPS...
我们就能够在世界各地立马定位船只在数码之间 we're able to fix the ship's position...within a fewyards instantaneously...anywhere we are in the world.
现在GPS已取代了六分仪 Now that GPS has replaced sextants...
天体坐标对天文学家的重要性 celestial coordinates are more important to astronomers...
就超过了海员 than they are to sailors.
即使坐标系统 And even though the coordinate system...
能给他们望远镜指向的主意 gives them an idea of where to point their telescopes...
但是坐标还是达不到精准的地步 the grid falls short in a serious way.
它假设所有的星星 lt assumes all the stars...
距离我们都一样远 are all the same distance from us...
一个大错特错的假设 an assumption that's flat-out wrong.
你看夜空中的星星 When you look at the stars in the night sky...
它们似乎都差不多远 they all appear to be about the same distance away...
仿佛在同一个平面上 as if they were in the same plane.
同样的情况发生在你从远处看城市的轮廓线 The same happens when you look at a city skyline...from a distance away...
比如我们看芝加哥的轮廓线 such as we are from the Chicago skyline.
整个那些建筑 So while those buildings...
看上去好像都一样远 look like they're the same distance...
实际上它们是在距离非常不同的地方 they're really at many different distances away.
群星同样如此 The same is true of the stars.
虽然它们看上去好像在相同的距离上 While they all look like they're at the same distance...
但是有些近些 有些要远很多 some are close, some are much further away.
那么我们是如何知道哪些星近 So how do we know which stars are close...
哪些星远的呢？ and which are far away?
原来那是最难的问题 As it turns out...that's the most difficult question of all.
这一直是整个天文学里一个最棘手的问题 That's been the single greatest frustration...in all of astronomy.
观察夜空即使用上了望远镜 Looking at the night sky, even with telescopes...
你都无法辨别距离 you cannot tell distances.
这是数百年里天文学的圣杯 That's been the holy grail of astronomy for centuries.
我们现在来到了安琪拉国家森林公园 We're here in the Angeles National Forest...
我带着便携旅游地图 and l've got with me a handy trail map.
我想徒步旅行 And l'd like to take a hike...
可能会去斯维泽瀑布 maybe going to, say, Switzer Falls...
这在地图上 看上去好像并不太远 which, on my map, looks like it's not very far...
可能只有1英里 only maybe a mile.
我可能严重低估了这个徒步旅行的困难 But the trouble is...l could badly underestimate the difficulty of this hike...
因为我的平面地图没有考虑到 because my flat map here fails to take into account...
一个非常重要的因素 海拔 one very significant factor, which is the elevation.
因此 事实上 我简单的一英里徒步 So, in fact, my simple one-mile hike...
结果成了5000英尺的爬山 could turn out to be a 5,000-foot climb.
同样 我的星座地图也未能告诉我 So does my constellation map fail to tell me...
两颗星之间的真实距离 about the true distance between two stars.
即使是在一个星座里 Even though in a constellation...
有可能看上去它们相互紧挨着 they might look like they're right next to each other...
但事实上 一颗可能会比另一颗远很多 in fact, one could be much farther away than the other...
加入我光看天文坐标的话 and l would never know it if l just looked...
就永远不知晓了 at the celestial coordinates only.
和森林里的徒步者一样 天文学家依靠线索 Like hikers in the woods, astronomers rely on clues...
来帮助自己判断我们巨大而神秘的宇宙中的距离 to help them gauge the distances...in our vast and mysterious universe.
所以 我们在森林里行走时 So, when we're hiking in the forest...
即使我们没有能告诉海拔的地图 even if we don't have a map that tells us elevation...
我们也能利用当地地形学和树木分类的知识 we can use our knowledge of the local topography...and types of trees...
来告诉我们海拔的情况 to tell us something about our altitude.
比如有些树适应低海拔 For example, certain trees prefer lower elevation...
而其它树则是应高海拔 whereas other trees prefer higher altitudes.
同样天文学家利用某类定标星作为路标 Similarly, astronomers use...certain types of reference stars as guideposts...
非正式的路标 作为距离的尺度 familiar guideposts, as a gauge of distance.
天文学家工具包里第一件工具 The first tool in the astronomer's kit...
是视差现象 is the phenomenon of parallax.
这东西我们每天用来在小尺度上 lt's something we use on a smaller scale every day...
观察三维世界 to see the world in three dimensions.
这个方法被认为视差 The way to think of parallax...
是每个人都能做的非常简单的练习 is a very simple exercise that everybody can do.
看着你的手指 Take a look at yourfinger...
看着很远的东西 and look at something really, really far away.
如果你用上右眼 lf you use your right eye...
把你的手指对准远方的目标 and line up yourfinger with a distant object...
然后用上你的左眼 and then use your left eye...
就会看到你的手指实际上表现出移动 you'll see that yourfinger actually appears to move...
相当戏剧性 quite dramatically.
造成这种移动的 This apparent shif t is caused...
是我们两眼之间的距离 by the distance between our two eyes.
天文学家测量视差 Astronomers measure parallax...
是通过在一个位置上观察星星 by looking at a star at one position...
然后六个月后再来观察它 and then looking at it again six months later...
那时它已经移到了距离我们观察点尽可能远的地方 when it's moved as far as it could go...from our vantage point.
六个月其实是地球尽可能远离原始位置的时间 Six months is really when the Earth is as far away...from that original position as it can be.
星星越近视差就越大 The closer the star, the greater the parallax.
问题是星星都不是很近 The problem is that stars aren't very close.
甚至我们最近的星星 比邻星的视差角 Even the parallax angle of our closest star...Proxima Centauri,
都很难测出 is difficult to measure.
它小于一秒弧度 lt's less than a second of arc.
一秒弧度是什么概念？ What's a second of arc?
圆周是360度 There's 360 degrees in a circle.
每度又有60分弧度 ln every degree, there is 60 minutes of arc.
每分弧度又有60秒弧度 And in every minute of arc, there are 60 seconds of arc.
比邻星是0.7秒弧度的视差 Proxima Centauri has a parallax of 0.7 seconds of arc...
所以非常的小 so it's very small.
对于更为遥远的星星的跨距 To span the distance to more far-flung stars...
天文学家依靠一种熟悉的路标来指引 astronomers count on...a familiar guidepost to lead them...
就像海岸警卫队利用灯塔一样 much like the Coast Guard uses a lighthouse.
海岸警卫队人人都知道每一座灯塔 The men and women of the Coast Guard... know that every lighthouse...
都有特定的脉冲频率 has a particular pulsation frequency.
一座可能每分钟闪烁两次 One might flash two times a minute...
另一座 会是4次 another, four times.
他们可以利用这个来确定自己的准确位置 They can use this to determine exactly their position...
就基于那种式样 just based on the pattern.
同样 ln the same way...
天文学家可以利用一种宇宙灯塔 astronomers can use a cosmic lighthouse...
叫做造父变星 called a cepheid variable star.
仙王座 The constellation Cepheus...
取名来自埃塞俄比亚神话中的国王 named after the mythical king ofAetheopia...
拥有57颗看得见的星星 包括仙王座δ claims 57 visible stars, including Delta Cephei...
这颗变星是造父变星的原型 a variable star that is the prototype...for cepheid variables.
靠天性怪癖 By a quirk of nature...
造父变星守时如节拍器 cepheids keep time like a metronome.
造父变星越大越亮 The bigger and brighter the cepheid...
其脉动则越慢 the slower it will pulsate.
所以你要做的就是找到造父变星 So what you do is find the cepheid variable...
测量其脉动周期 measure its pulsation period...
有可能是10天或60天 it might be 10 days or 60 days...
于是你就得到了一个标准蜡烛了 and then you've got a standard candle.
你就可以判断那颗星有多远了 You can determine howfar away that star is.
标准蜡烛是比较已知恒星亮度和距离的基础 A standard candle is a basis of comparison...a star of known luminosity and distance...
我们可以与类似恒星进行比对 that we can compare similar stars against.
灯泡发出一定量的光 A light bulb gives off the amount of light.
会发出一定量的能量 lt gives off a certain amount of watts.
然而灯光会看上去更亮一些 But that light is going to look a lot brighter...
只要你更加靠近灯泡 if you're right up close to that light bulb...
而不是更远 than if you are ten feet away.
因此星星的亮度并没有变化 And so the luminosity of a star doesn't change...
所以 就是那回事 you know, that is what it is.
然而视星等却是取决于你的所处位置 But apparent magnitude, you know...
你有多远 depends on where you are, howfar away you are...
不管你是距离物体近呢 whetheryou're right up close to something...
还是在街的另一头看它 or you're seeing it from the other side of the street.
如果造父变星并不是很亮 lf a cepheid doesn't appear that bright...
那它必定很遥远 then it must be far away.
天文学家们可以基于其的亮度来计算出它有多远 Astronomers can calculate howfar it is...based on how dim it appears.
看着我的造父变星病绘制出其光变曲线 Looking at my cepheid variable and plotting the light curve...
从亮到暗、再到亮有多长时间 how long it takes to go from brightness to dim...and back to brightness again...
就可以得出那颗星的内在亮度 tells me what the intrinsic brightness of that star is.
这样我就可以通过观察它们的变动周期 So l can calculate distance to variable stars...
来计算出变星的距离 by observing the period of their variation.
埃德温.哈勃就是用这个方法测定了 That's how Edwin Hubble was able to determine...
仙女座在我们银河系外面200万光年的地方 thatAndromeda was two million light-years...outside our galaxy.
但是造父变星有自己的局限 But cepheid variables have their limits.
要测量仙女座以外的距离 To measure distances far beyond Andromeda...
天文学家则要依靠超新星了 astronomers rely on supernovas.
原来超新星也可以归类为标准蜡烛 lt turns out that supernovae can also be categorized...as standard candles.
整个宇宙间的1A型超新星都是一模一样的 Type 1a supernovae are all the same...
我们掌握了测定它们的方法 We know how to calibrate them...throughout the universe.
也就是如何测定与大爆炸以及宇宙边缘的距离 and that's how we determine the distances...out to the Big Bang...and the very edges of the universe.
深入大爆炸 Peering into the Big Bang...
科学家几乎能看到时间的起点 scientists can nearly see the beginning of time...
大爆炸后30万年 300,000 years after the Big Bang.
即使我们最熟悉的星座 Even our most familiar constellations...
也有许多关于宇宙的东西教给我们 have a lot to teach us about the cosmos.
猎户（座） 希腊人对猎人的称呼 Orion, which is Greek for hunter...
有77颗可见的星星 has 77 visible stars.
参宿一 参宿二和参宿三 Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka...
组成了猎户腰带三星 make up the three stars in Orion's belt.
现代 天文学家搜索猎户座 ln modern times, astronomers have hunted Orion...
发现了各种惊人的物体 finding a variety of astonishing objects.
我观察猎户座时 When l see Orion...
同时也看到了星星的生死存亡 l also see the life and death of stars.
就在腰带下方 Just below the belt...
有一个斑点 叫做猎户座星云 there's a little smudge called the Orion Nebula.
那是个托儿所 初生星犊的托儿所 Now, that's a nursery, a nursery for baby stars...
实际上你可以肉眼看到它 and you can actually see that with the naked eye.
猎户囊中还有一对恒星宝石 Orion has also bagged a pair of stellar gems.
你看猎户的左肩上方 lf you look at the upper left-hand shoulder of Orion...
可以看到一颗红色的巨星 参宿四 you see the red giant Betelgeuse.
如果你径直往下看 And if you immediately look right down...
右下方的星星 to the lower right star...
就是他腿上的那颗星 the star that's sort of his leg...
就可以看到一颗蓝色的超级巨星 参宿七 you'll see the blue supergiant Rigel.
参宿四 红色超级巨星 Betelgeuse, as a red supergiant...
是颗垂死挣扎的星星 is a star in its death throes.
红色超级巨星实际上温度比太阳低很多 A red supergiant is a star...that is actually quite a bit cooler than our Sun...
但是却要大很多 but much, much larger.
参宿四的质量比太阳大14倍 Betelgeuse is14 times more massive than our Sun.
一旦用完核燃料 When it runs out of nuclear fuel...
参宿四将会变得不稳定 Betelgeuse will become unstable...
向内聚爆成一颗巨大的超新星 and implode in a colossal supernova.
它随时都会爆发 lt can detonate at any time.
它爆发时 And when it explodes...
将会点亮整个夜空 it will light up the entire night sky...
甚至在白天都看得到 and it will even be visible during daytime.
或许它已经爆发了 And maybe it's already blown up.
它距离地球427光年 lt's 427 light-years from Earth...
这就意味着或许它已经爆发了 which means that perhaps it has already exploded...
但光尚未来得及抵达我们这里 but light hasn't had time to reach us yet.
超新星会将注意力引向数千年来 The supernova will draw more attention to a sky...
一直在吸引着我们的天空 that's been captivating us for thousands of years.
古埃及人问天耕种收获的时计 The ancient Egyptians consulted the heavens...to tell them when to plant and when to harvest.
每颗星都具有神圣的意义 Every star possessed a sacred meaning.
它们叫天狼星 They called Sirius...
在大犬星座里 in the constellation Canis Major...
伊希斯女神之星 the Star of lsis.
天狼星出现在夏至时分的破晓 Sirius' appearance before dawn during the summer solstice...
预示着尼罗河每年的泛滥 forecasted the annual rise of the Nile river.
其它星座 如猎户座 Other constellations, like Orion...
可能具有某种建筑意义 might have had a certain architectural significance.
埃及古物学者经常会提出这样的问题 Egyptologists have of ten asked the question...
为何古埃及人建造了三座大金字塔 why did the ancient Egyptians build three great pyramids...
并稍稍错位呢？ that are slightly misaligned?
难道他们在数千年前用了错误的尺子来定位的吗？ Did they have bad ruler sticks thousands of years ago?
三座金字塔看来对应着猎户座的三颗星 The three pyramids seem to be aligned...to the three constellation stars of Orion.
这种排列意味着什么呢？ What does this alignment mean?
是巧合还是金字塔有目的的以这种方式设计的呢？ Was it a coincidence, or were the pyramids...intentionally engineered this way?
吉萨金字塔的迷人之处在于其考古的神秘 The pyramids of Giza seduce us with archeological mystery...
以及历史的机巧 and historical intrigue.
有些科学家认为金字塔 Some scientists think the pyramids...
具有一定的天文意义 have a certain astronomical importance.
声称包括大金字塔在内的 lt has been claimed that the layout...
三座大金字塔在吉萨高原上的布局 of the three major pyramids on the Giza plateau...including the great pyramid...
是在地面上模仿猎户的腰带三星 are set on the ground...to mimic the three stars in Orion's belt.
这是我最喜欢的地球事件与天空事件之间的联系之一 lt's one of my favorite connections...between events on Earth and events in the sky.
不过古埃及人并未像我们这样 But the ancient Egyptians...
看到猎户座里的猎人 didn't see a hunter in Orion like we do.
他们看到了奥西里斯 再生之神 They saw Osiris, God of Rebirth.
有人猜测大金字塔里的通风井 Some speculate that air shafts within the great pyramids...
是专门设计用来将法老的灵魂射向天堂 were specifically designed...to catapult the souls of pharaohs to the heavens.
在那些金字塔里我们看到了两种不同通风道 ln those pyramids, we have two different shafts.
那些通风道 And those shafts...
一条往南 一条往北 one points north and one points south.
往南的通道指向猎户座 The south shaft points toward Orion.
所以法老的灵魂会射出井道 So the soul of the pharaoh...would be launched through that shaft...
为了会合奥西里斯 猎户座 in order to be connected to Osiris, Orion...
复活、享受来世 and be resurrected again, enjoying eternal life.
可其他人则表示怀疑 But others are a bit more skeptical.
为了使其准确匹配 ln order to make it match correctly...
你必须将其倒置放到地上或空中 you have to flip it upside down on the ground...or in the sky...
可是埃及人却将重点放在金字塔的南边和北边 but the Egyptians did place an importance...on north and on south in the pyramid.
这毫无道理可言 And it doesn't make any sense to say...
也就是他们将星星排成一线 well, yes, they lined the stars up right...
可是在它映射到地面上时 but then when it came to mapping on the ground...
就完全将一切给反转了过来 it was perfectly okay to flip everything around...
上下倒了个 and make it upside down.
往北的通道对准了一颗特定的星星 The north shaft points toward one specific star.
往北的那个 The one pointing north...
当时（公元前2000 - 3000年）指向了北极星 points to the pole star at the time...2,000 years before Christ, 2000 B.C., 3000 B.C.
北极星就是右枢 And that pole star was Thuban.
右枢座落在天龙星座里 Thuban is located in the constellation Draco...or the dragon.
天龙星座有79颗可见星 Draco has 79 visible stars.
右枢已被当代人的极星 - 北极星所取代 Thuban has been replaced...by our generation's pole star, Polaris.
北极星照亮了北极 Polaris illuminates the arctic...
像北极上方的灯塔那样控制着天空 governing our sky as a beacon over the North Pole.
身处小熊星座 Lying in the constellation Ursa Minor...
比太阳亮2500倍 it's 2,500 times brighter than the Sun...
让其伴星北极星AB 及北极星B相形见绌 outshining its companion stars Polaris AB and B.
尽管它有史以来一直作为北方之星统治着苍穹 Although it's ruled the heavens as our north star...for as long as we can remember...
但是其统治地位不会永远不倒 its reign won't last forever.
随着地球围绕太阳的运转 它在来回地摆动 As Earth orbits the Sun, it teeters back and forth.
这种摆动称为岁差 This wobbling is called precession.
如果地球是个完美的球体 是不会进动的 lf Earth was a perfect sphere, it wouldn't precess...
但是月球与太阳的引力 but the gravitational pulls of the Moon and Sun...
牵引隆起的赤道 扰乱着地球的旋转 tug at the bulging equator, upsetting Earth's spin.
地球就像陀螺仪或陀螺 Now, the Earth is like a gyroscope or a spinning top.
请注意 如果我快速旋转它 Notice that if l spin this very rapidly...
然后我移动其轴 and then l move the axis...
它指的方向不变 it points in the same direction.
这就是地球指向北极星的原因所在 This is the Earth pointing toward Polaris...
在地球围绕太阳转动时 that as the Earth goes around the Sun...
它总是指向同一个方向 it always points in the same direction.
可是岁差是引力干扰造成的 However, precession is caused...by gravitational interference...
所以地球就开始颤动了 so the Earth begins to wobble.
随着地球的颤动 As Earth wobbles...
地轴在天上划出一个圆圈 its axis draws a circle in the sky.
需要2.6万年才能划出一个完整的圆圈 lt takes 26,000 years to make one complete circle.
北天极将越来越远离北极星的位置 The north celestial pole...will move further and further away...from the position of Polaris.
在1.4万年后 ln about 14,000 years from now...
其圆圈走完一半的时候 about halfway around its circle...
将会非常靠近亮星-织女星 it will be very close to the bright star vega.
但是因为织女星要比那个空域里的 But because Vega is so much brighter...
其它星星亮很多很多 than any other star in that part of the sky...
它就会成为一颗非常有影响力的北极星 it will be a very significant north polar star.
2.6万年里 地轴 以北极为中心 ln 26,000 years, Earth's axis, centered on the North Pole...
将会走完一个完整的圆周 will make one complete circle...
重新指向它现在的位置 and it will point back to where it is today.
北极星将会推翻织女星 And Polaris will overthrowVega...
夺回其北方之星的头衔 and reclaim its title as our north star.
星星距离地球的一极越近 The closer a star is to one of Earth's poles...
其停留在天上的固定位置就越久 the more its position remains fixed in the sky.
天文学家称那些星为拱极星 Astronomers call these stars circumpolar...
意思是它们常年可见 meaning that they're visible all year long.
事实上 北方星空的所有星座 ln fact, all of the constellations...of northern stars...
比如小熊座和大熊座 such as the Little Dipper and the Big Dipper...
只是绕着很小的圈子 just go around in a fairly small circle.
所以其结果是 So the result of that...
它们围绕北极运转 没有上升和下落 they go around Polaris without ever rising and setting.
你越往南 The further south you go...
升起的星座就越多 也就是 the more constellations actually rise, say...
在夜幕降临时分以及黎明到来之前 at the beginning of the night...and set at the end of the night...
所以它们不具有那种魔力 and so they don't have that magical property.
星星之间的差异在于个头 密度 还有亮度 Stars vary in size, density and also brightness.
不像大多数星星那样稳定发出光辉 lnstead of shining with a steady glow...like most stars...
变星以催眠模式有规律地变化着明暗 variable stars pulsate...brightening and dimming in a hypnotic pattern.
变星就像一壶茶 A variable star is like a pot of tea.
你把茶壶放在炉子上 You take a kettle and put it on a burner...
它就开始膨胀了 and it starts to expand...
然后它释放出过剩的能量 and then it releases its excess energy...
于是就落下了 and then drops.
然后它又开始积蓄压力 And then it starts to build up pressure...
于是又落下了 and then it drops again.
同样的道理 So kind of in the same way...
变星的大气层一直在膨胀收缩 the variable stars' atmospheres...expand and shrink with time...
这就让变星看上去变亮变暗 and this makes the star appear to get brighter and dimmer.
有时会发生在几个小时里 Sometimes this happens over a matter of hours.
有时会有几天甚至几个月 Sometimes it can be days or even months.
有类特殊的变星 叫做T型变星 A special class of variable stars...called T-Tauri stars...
其脉动是因为年轻不稳定 pulsate because they're young and unstable.
和顽童一般T型变星会莫名其妙地爆发 Like stubborn teenagers, T-Tauri stars...have erratic outbursts...
不止是与引力抗争的突然爆发 except their tantrums involve a struggle with gravity.
由于核力把它往外推 As the nuclearforces push it outward...
引力将它往里拽 gravity pulls it back in...
它失去了平衡的位置 and it misses that equilibrium position...
有点像钟摆来回地摆动 sort of like a pendulum...and it oscillates back and forth.
T型变星的成长快于它们的脉动 T-Tauris will outgrow their pulsations.
随着年龄增长 它们会趋于平衡 As they age, they'll reach equilibrium...
成为沉稳的星星 becoming stable stars.
事实上 在太阳成熟之前 ln fact, before our Sun matured...
科学家认为它也曾经是颗T型变星 scientists think that it used to be a T-Tauri.
这或许给了我们 太阳系以及太阳 This probably gives us our best look...
在其最早期演化时的最佳写照 at what our solar system and our Sun looked like...when it had just formed in its earliest evolution.
我们知道 比如 And we know that, for example...
这些星周围的尘埃 气体乱七八糟的 that the clouds of dust and gas around these stars...
必定是一个非常暴戾的场景 and it must have been a pretty violent scene...are very messy...
有许多石块 with many lunks and chunks of rock...
相互碰撞 相互攻击 colliding into each other and bombarding each other.
第一批T型星是在金牛座里辨认出来的 The first T-Tauri stars were identified...in the constellation Taurus.
金牛-公牛也、有98颗可见星 Taurus, the bull, possesses 98 visible stars.
毕宿五、红巨星、公牛的赤目 Aldebaran, a red giant star, is the bull's bloodshot eye.
金牛座是黄道星座之一 Taurus is one of the zodiac constellations...
位于黄道平面附近 that lie near the plane of the ecliptic.
之所以叫黄道平面 lt's called the ecliptic plane...
那是因为那是空中会发生日月食的唯一的圆周 because that's the only circle around the sky...where eclipses can occur.
比如月球必须穿过黄道 The Moon has to pass through the ecliptic, for example...
才会给我们带来日食 in order to give us an eclipse of the Sun.
它也是我们地球围绕太阳运转的轨道 lt's also the path that our Earth travels along...as we orbit the Sun.
黄道的上下8度范围里的区域叫做黄道带 Eight degrees above and below the ecliptic...lies a region called the zodiac.
坐落此带里的每一个星座 Every constellation that falls within this band...
被称为黄道星座 is referred to as a zodiac constellation.
不管何时 At any given time...
太阳总是位于黄道带里的某个星座里 the Sun is in a constellation of the zodiac.
太阳就位于地球和某个星座之间 The Sun lies between us on the Earth...and a certain constellation.
因为我们围绕着太阳运转 Because we orbit our Sun...
所以太阳就似乎是在天上固定的黄道星座间穿行 the Sun appears to move through zodiac constellations...that are fixed in the sky.
晚间我们天空的那边一半被太阳点亮 During nighttime, the opposite portion of our sky...is lit by the Sun.
占星家把12个黄道星座每一个与 Astrologers linked each of the 12 zodiac constellations...
太阳经过的月份联系起来 to the month that the Sun passes through.
所以6月 太阳扫过巨蟹座 So in June, the Sun sweeps through Cancer...
7月 它滑过狮子座 and in July, it glides across Leo.
但是你瞧其中有一个问题 But you see, there's a problem with that.
每个星座大小有所不同 Each constellation is of different sizes.
有大有小 Some are small, some are big.
太阳需要7天穿过天蝎座 lt takes the Sun seven days to pass through Scorpius...
这个最小的黄道星座 the smallest zodiac constellation...
而需要44天才通过最大的室女座 and 44 days to clear VIrgo, the largest.
所以你不能用12个相同形状的星座 So you cannot divide the year into12 equal pieces...
将一年分成相同的12份 with 12 equally shaped constellations.
很多人将大量的意义 A lot of people put a great deal of significance...
赋予了黄道十二宫的符号 太阳的符号 on their zodiac sign, their Sun sign.
然而实际上 由于地球行进的星座是 But in reality, since the Earth is precessing...
太阳现在出现在里面的 the constellation in which the Sun appears today...
不同于2000年前太阳露面的那时的星座 is different from the constellation...in which it appeared 2,000 years ago.
所以下次有人对你说 So the next time someone tells you...
你好斗是因为你属于天蝎座 that you're competitive because you're a Scorpio...
你回敬他 听着 tell him, "Well, you know...
今天我已经不再是蝎子了 today l'm really not a Scorpio anymore."
从臭名昭著的 你属于哪个星座 From the infamous "What's your sign?" line...
一直到预测运势和判断个性 to predicting fortunes and defining personality traits...
这12个星座已经在通俗文化中扮演了重要的角色 the 12 signs of the zodiac have played a substantial role in pop culture.
然而这些标记打哪来 But where do these signs come from...
又是谁命名的呢？ and who named the stars?
我们有某些案例中的原始的星名 We have original names for stars in some cases...
来自美索不达米亚 that came to us from Mesopotamia.
有些冠名是希腊和罗马人所为 Some names were added to the stars...by the Greeks and the Romans.
其中有些延续了下来 有些消失了 Some of those survived, some of them did not.
随着罗马帝国在公元450年间的崩溃 With the collapse of the Roman empire...in about 450 A.D...
这方面的知识大多失传了 much of this knowledge was lost.
然而 却被阿拉伯人保护了下来 However, it was preserved by the Arabs.
事实上 很多保留至今的天文学知识 And, in fact, much of astronomy survives today...
是由于阿拉伯天文学家 because of the Arabic astronomers...
保护和继承了希腊和罗马天文学家的成果 preserving and augmenting the calculations and work...of the Greek and Roman astronomers.
公元150年 希腊科学家托勒密 ln 150 A.D., Greek scientist Claudius Ptolemy...
将自己的观察资料与历史著述相结合 merged his own observations with historical writings...
标记了1000多颗星星 labeling more than 1,000 stars.
对于整个覆盖天空的星座 And out of all the constellations...that cover our skies...
我们已经认识了那12个是黄道星座 we've learned that 12 are zodiac constellations...
然而实际上 有着13个 but in reality, there are 13.
即使我们不是占星术的粉丝 Even if we're not followers of astrology...
大多数人还是知道占星术的标记是什么 most of us know what our astrological sign is.
我们多数人不知道的是 What most of us don't know...
并非只有12个黄道星座 is that instead of having 12 zodiac constellations...
而实际上是13个 there are actually13.
蛇夫 是希腊人对玩蛇人的称谓 Ophiuchus, which is Greek for the serpent bearer...
是被我们遗忘的标记 is ourforgotten sign.
它有55颗可见星 lt has 55 visible stars...
是巴纳德之星的家 and is home to Barnard's star...
那是颗夜晚穿行最快的星星 which is the fastest moving star through our night sky.
依偎在天蝎座和人马座之间 Nestled between Scorpius and Sagittarius...
蛇夫座让它所包围的星座黯然失色 Ophiuchus dwarfs the constellations it surrounds.
尽管它是托勒密登记在案的最早的48个图案之一 Although it was one of the original...48-star patterns that Ptolemy catalogued...
某些科学家猜测它之所以被放弃了黄道标记 some scientists speculate...that it might have been dropped as a zodiac sign...
可能是为了保持12这个偶数 to keep an even number of 12.
其他人则认为岁差 Others think that precession...
可能将蛇夫推离了黄道 could have nudged Ophiuchus offthe zodiac...
但是真正的答案还是个谜团 but the real answer remains a mystery.
宇宙间唯一一颗不属于特定星座的星星 The only star in the universe...that doesn't belong to a specific constellation...
是我们的太阳 is our Sun.
相对来说 Comparatively speaking...
太阳是一颗具有普通质量的上年岁的恒星 the Sun is a typical aging star with an average mass.
然而那些具有太阳质量50到100倍的恒星 But stars that have about 50 to 100 times...the mass of our Sun...
称为沃尔夫拉叶星 are called Wolf-Rayet stars.
最亮的可视沃尔夫拉叶星 The brightest observable Wolf-Rayet...
是船帆座λ星 is called Gamma Velorum, in the constellation Vela.
这些大质量恒星亮的出奇 These massive stars are incredibly luminous...
已经处于其演化的最后阶段 and are in theirfinal stages of evolution.
它们如此明亮的原因 The reason they get so luminous...
在于抛射能量和辐射异常剧烈 that they are pouring out energy and radiation so furiously...
实际上强烈到足以将其大气层外层剥离 it's actually powerful enough...to push off the outer layers of the star's atmosphere.
这些星星在一点点自我蒸发 These stars literally evaporate themselves...
在自己产生的高温和辐射中 from all the heat and radiation that they're generating...
就留下一个非常炙热的核心 leaving behind just a very, very hot central core.
尽管科学家们没有直接观察到 Although scientists haven't directly observed...
任何死亡 the death of any...
但是他们推测沃尔夫拉叶星生命 they speculate that Wolf-Rayet stars...
将终结于巨大的超新星爆发中 will end their lives...in colossal supernova explosions...
或有可能塌落成巨大的黑洞 or possibly collapse into massive black holes.
然而在此之前 But before they do...
它们会上演一场引人入胜的秀 they put on a very spectacular show...
将自己的外层气体整个爆发出来 of blowing out all of their outer layers of gas...
变成星际介质 into the interstellar medium.
今天 我们地面和太空望远镜的网络 Today, our network of ground- and space-based telescopes...
让天文学家可以看到天空的任何一点 allows astronomers to see any point in the sky...
但是北半球的古代天文学家 but ancient astronomers in the northern hemisphere...
无法理解南半球 couldn't see that the southern hemisphere...
所看到的全然迥异的景象 looks out on an entirely different view.
如果你在南半球 lf you're in the southern hemisphere...
夜空中最突出的特色 the most prominent feature in the night sky...
就是银河 is the Milky Way.
银河里 And in the Milky Way...
你可以看到这些区域是昏暗的 you have these zones that are dark.
那是尘埃云 They are dust clouds.
可是你在地球上看时 But when you look at them from Earth...
它们只是昏暗 they'rejust dark...
那是相对于很亮的银河以及所有星星的背景 against the backdrop of a very bright Milky Way...and all the stars.
那是最明显的情况 lt's the most noticeable thing.
这些暗云好象是银河繁星长河里的裂口 These dark clouds appear as holes...within the Milky Way's starry swath.
这样一个独特的景象 这些裂口 There is such a distinctive pattern, these holes...
有些文明 that some civilizations...
尤其是南美的印加人 in particular, the lncas in South America...
把这些暗斑专门作为自己的星座 identified these black splotches...these absorptions, as constellations themselves.
这些稠密的尘埃斑块 These dense patches of dust...
被称为暗云星座 are known as dark cloud constellations.
出人意料 中心附近的群星整个封锁区 There is an amazing, complete blackout of stars...in a region near the center...
就在银河系的中心 the direction near the center of the galaxy...
叫做煤袋 and it's called the Coal Sack.
它只是稠密的尘埃云 lt's just such a dense cloud of dust...
它挡住了背后所有的星光 it just blocks out all the light from the stars behind it.
现在 煤袋位于南十字星座中 Today, the Coal Sack lies in the constellation Crux.
十字架 一般叫做南十字星座 Crux, commonly called the Southern Cross...
是最小的星座 is the smallest constellation...
有20颗可见星 and 20 stars are visible.
海员依靠南十字α和γ来定位南极 Sailors relied on Alpha and Gamma Crux...to locate the South Pole...
因为南半球没有北极星那样的极星 since there is no pole star like Polaris...in the southern hemisphere.
随着天文学的发展 As astronomy developed...
科学界认识到 the scientific community realized...
统一星座的名称和形状已势在必行了 it needed to unify the names and shapes...of the constellations.
1922年 成立了一个组织 ln 1922, a group formed...
叫做国际天文联合会 called the lnternational Astronomical Union.
它们有点像科学家的政治机构 They were sort of the political body of scientists...
负责瓜分天空 设立边界 assigned to divide up the sky and set up boundaries...
所以这里人人都同意划分边界 so that everybody could agree here are the boundaries.
那些边界基于历史上的星座 Those boundaries were based on historic constellations.
国际天文联合会采纳了托勒密大部分的 The lAU adopted most of Ptolemy's...
原始星座并增加了更多 original constellations and added more...
包括每一颗没有重叠的可视星 to include every visible star with no overlaps.
其中一些是前不久在南半球命名的 Some of them were named more recently...in the southern hemisphere...
当时西方欧洲人看到了南方天空的美丽景象 when Western Europeans had got a really good look...at the southern skies.
整个夜空总共有88个官方星座 ln all, 88 official constellations...cover the night sky.
但是还有一些小的星星集群 But there are other small collections of stars...
形成了明显的模样 叫做星群 that form obvious patterns called asterisms...
比如小熊座和大熊座 like the Little Dipper and Big Dipper.
北斗星由大熊座里最亮的星星构成 The Big Dipper is made out of Ursa Major"s brightest stars.
大熊座 有71颗可见星 Ursa Major, or the great bear, has 71 visible stars.
北斗星清晰可辨 是由于其类似一把勺子 The Big Dipper is recognized by its resemblance to a ladle.
北斗星可能是天上最容易找到的对象 The Big Dipper is probably...the easiest object in the sky to find...
即使你对别的一无所知 even if you don't know anything else.
虽然一直是这样熟悉的星群 For being such a familiar asterism...
但是北斗星依然充满了惊喜 the Big Dipper is still full of surprises.
勺柄的第二颗星叫北斗六 The second star in its handle, named Mizar...
看上去好像是一个光点 looks like a single point of light...
但是仔细观察发现有5颗熠熠生辉的星星 but a closer look reveals that it's five blazing stars.
天鹅座 天鹅也 有79颗可见星 Cygnus, the swan, claims 79 visible stars.
名叫天津四的星星是一座热核反应堆 A star named Deneb is a thermonuclear powerhouse...
构成了天鹅的尾巴 that forms the swan's tail.
直径是太阳的200倍 At 200 times the diameter of our Sun...
亮度是太阳的25万倍 and as much as 250,000 times as bright...
天津四是白超巨星典型例子之一 Deneb is one of the largest examples...of a white supergiant star.
这颗星处于其演化的一个非常不寻常的阶段 lt's a star in a very unusual phase of its evolution.
很少有星象这样 There's very few stars like that...
一般不会将生命中的大部分时间 and they don't spend very much time of their lives...
放在这样的高亮度状态上 in such a high luminosity state.
白超巨星很罕见 White supergiants are rare...
因为恒星从红超巨星转变为蓝超巨星 because the star is transitioning...from a red to a blue supergiant...
其阶段只能维持几百万年 a phase that only lasts a few million years.
按人类的标准 听起来好像很长的时间了 This may sound like a long time by human standards...
但是对于恒星来说 but for a star...
是其生命周期的1%还不到 it's less than one percent of its lifetime.
对于一个以优雅的鸟的名字命名的星座 For a constellation named after a graceful bird...
天鹅座饱受暴戾岁月的创伤 Cygnus bears the scars of a violent past.
天鹅座也是叫做天鹅座环的东西的家 So Cygnus is also home...to something called the Cygnus Loop...
那是一颗超新星的残骸 which is a supernova remnant.
实际上有颗星将自己炸的粉身碎骨 There was a star that blew itselfto bits, basically.
张开血盆大口的黑洞 叫做天鹅座X1 A gaping black hole, called Cygnus X1...
就坐落在天鹅的心脏 lies in the swan's heart.
天鹅座X1是个8.7太阳质量的黑洞 Cygnus X1 is an 8.7 solar mass black hole...
所以是太阳质量的8.7倍 so that's 8.7 times the mass of our Sun...
围绕着另一颗恒星运转 that's orbiting another star.
天鹅座X1是第一个记录在案的黑洞 Cygnus X1 was the first black hole to ever be recorded.
事实上 我们首次发现天鹅座X1 ln fact, we first detected Cygnus X1...
并非因为是黑洞 not so much because of the black hole...
因为它漆黑一团 - 难以被发觉 because it's black-- it's very hard to see...
而是因为它对其同伴的影响 but because of its effect on its companion...
那是颗巨星 which is this giant star.
事实上那个黑洞正在慢慢吞噬着同伴 And in fact, the black hole...is slowly devouring the companion...
最终它可能会把同伴整个吞没 and eventually it will probably swallow it up.
到时星座将会失去一颗星星 And when it does...a constellation will lose a star...
我们对夜空的看法将会永远改变 and our perception of the night sky...will change forever.
我们的夜空持续不断地改变 Our night sky is in constant change.
每个星座里 星星诞生 Within each constellation, stars are born...
然而别的星星被黑洞吞噬 while others are swallowed by black holes.
每一颗超新星的爆发 恒星 星云 Every supernova explosion, exotic star, and nebula...
都有一个共同点 has one thing in common...
都可以凭借其所在的星座给甄别出来 they are identified...by the constellation they're located in.
然而在我们发明观察它们的高倍望远镜之前 But even before we invented...high-powered telescopes to see them...
星座还承担着一个重要的用途 constellations served an important purpose...
给人们带来不敢掉以轻心的晚间新闻 they brought people...the nightly news that they dared not ignore.
那是生死攸关的问题 lt was a question of life and death.
你瞧 夜空就是历法 You see, the night sky is a calendar.
那是我们人类最早的科学发明 That was the very first scientific invention...
天上的历法 of us humans, the calendar in the sky.
日出日落、月相变化 The rising and setting of the Sun...the changing phases of the Moon...
群星随季节重现消失 the seasonal reappearances...and disappearances of the stars...
人们看到的其实是井井有序 people see that there is, in fact...an order to the world.
他们其实是看到了天上的次序 They, in fact, see order in the sky...
这对人们预测地球上的事情是有用的 that is useful for them...to anticipate what's happening on the Earth.
那是生存的工具 That's a tool for survival.
你仰望天空时看到群星 When you look at the sky...you see these groups of stars...
联系着重大事件 that are connected to important events...
会提示你以某种方式行动 that would prompt you to behave in certain ways...
或以某种方式进展 or to move in certain ways...
或耕种 或收获 or to plant or harvest.
除了观察星相的季节性变化外 Besides seeing the pattern of stars...changing with the seasons...
古人还进行了另外一项重要的观察 the ancients made another crucial observation...
就是影响他们世界的斗转星移 the shif ting stellar canopy shaped their world.
一路往南的旅行者 Travelers who went a long way south...
比如 从希腊出发 for example, from Greece...
可以看到各种星座 started being able to see different constellations...
根据任何一个在家乡看到过的星座启程 from any of the constellations...that had been visible in their hometown.
所以是在告诉你 So it's telling you...
你其实是在一个曲面上移动 that you're really moving on a curved surface...
在不断改变着你的视野 and changing your perspective.
如今我们了解了地球的形状 Today we understand the shape of the Earth...
以及季节的更替 and the parade of the seasons.
可是星座并未超出它们的用途 But constellations haven't outlived their usefulness.
不是在告诉我们地球的情况 lnstead of telling us about the Earth...
而是帮助我们搞明白星星 they're helping us make sense of the stars.
星座非常像美术馆 A constellation is a lot like an art museum.
在美术馆里 你可以看到艺术家 ln an art museum, you will see artists...
利用的各种材料 who have used different kinds of materials...
作品 相片 平平常常的东西 paintings, photographs, and ordinary objects.
星座也有类似的东西 A constellation also has similar objects...
但是却是不同的材料 but made of different materials.
其中有些有较多的氢或氦 Some of them have more helium or hydrogen...
或者碳 硅 铁 or carbon, silicon, iron...
甚至我们还可以将它们收集起来 and yet we can group them together.
无论是美术馆还是星座里收集的东西 ln both cases...the objects that are gathered in an art museum...or a constellation...
它们都是我们出于某种原因人为收集起来的东西 they're artificial collections...that we've put together for some reason.
星座像国家那样将天空划分成版图 Like countries, constellations divide the sky into territories.
只要你说起 猎户座 我就能准确知道 When you say "Orion," l know exactly...
你说的是哪一部分天空了 what part of the sky you're talking about.
所以对于天文学家来说 So to an astronomer...
星座真的是张方便的地图 a constellation really is kind of a handy map.
这就是整理东西的方式 lt's just a way of organizing things...
这样我们就会知道东西所在的地方 so we kind of know where stuff is.
即使夜空无边无际 And even though the night sky is infinite...
但是我们只能够看到没有被尘埃 we can see only a sampling of stars...
和距离遮挡的很少的星星 before dust and distance blocks our view.
你或许会在伸手不见五指的夜晚 You will probably see on a very dark night...
凭肉眼看到1500到2000颗星星 maybe 1,500 to 2,000 stars with your naked eye...
当然你没有借助望远镜等东西 if you're not using binoculars or anything.
所以我们看到的只是外面世界的极小一部分 So what we're seeing is only a tiny, tiny fraction...of what's really out there.
那就有点像 That would be sort of like looking...
在美国整个人口 3.5亿人中只看到5个人 at the whole population of the United States...350 million Americans...and seeing five people.
人马座 即半人马座 有101颗可见星 Centaurus, or the centaur, contains 101 visible stars.
其中两颗 人马座α、β Two of its stars, Alpha and Beta Centauri...
是夜空中最亮的星星 are the brightest stars in our night sky.
人马座α是除太阳之外离地球最近的恒星 Centaurus holds Alpha Centauri...the star nearest to the Earth after our own Sun.
仔细观察会发现人马座α And a closer look reveals that Alpha Centauri...
实际上是个三合星系 is actually a triple star system.
星星与一两个伴星联合出镜演出并不罕见 lt's not unusual for stars to share the spotlight...with one or two orbiting co-stars.
事实上 那是常态 ln fact, it's the norm.
你在天上看到的星星六成以上 Over 60 percent of the stars you see in the heavens...
实际上是双星 三星 四星 are actually double stars, triple stars, quadruple stars.
我们的太阳是个例外 Our Sun is an exception.
我们的太阳明显没有伴星 Our Sun apparently has no companion.
在太阳独步太空时 While our Sun makes its lonely voyage through space...
半人马座奥米茄星团从来就不缺伴 the stars of Omega Centauri never lack company.
那是最亮的球状星团 lt is the brightest globular star cluster...
你可以不用望远镜肉眼就能看到它 that you can see without a telescope...just with the naked eye...
因为那是个包括1000万颗星星的巨大星团 because it is a giant cluster of about10 million stars.
半人马座奥米茄星团是银河系里最大的星团 Omega Centauri is the largest star cluster in our galaxy.
这些抱团在一起的星星 These tightly bound stars...
有着各种复杂的轨道 all have different, complicated orbits...
但是它们依然设法一起活动形成一个群体 but they still manage to move together as a single group.
星团的出身无人知晓 Where the cluster comes from is anyone's guess.
那是个与众不同的东西 lt's an unusual object...
很多天文学家猜测 and a lot of astronomers suspect...
这有可能是路过却被银河系吞噬了的星系的中心 that this might be the center of a galaxy...which got eaten or consumed by the Milky Way...when it fell in.
这种事情肯定发生频繁 That certainly happens fairly of often...
大鱼吃小鱼 that big galaxies are cannibals...
大星系吃小星系 and they eat little galaxies.
半人马座奥米茄星团可能就是那个过程的残留物 And Omega Centauri may be a remnant of this process.
人马座α发出的光 The light from Alpha Centauri...
需要4.2年达到地球 takes about 4.2 years to reach us...
但是我们看到的半人马座奥米茄星团的光 but when we look at Omega Centauri...
是1.6万年前发出的光 we're seeing light that's traveled 16,000 years.
由此可见半人马座实际有多大 That's some indication of how large Centaurus really is.
这也表明星座的存在只是我们的想象 lt also shows that a constellation exists...only in our mind's eye.
每颗星都像一件艺术品 And each star, like every piece of art...
有待探索 begs to be explored.
星座组织起夜空 让它易于了解 The constellations organize the night sky and make it almost comprehensible.
在我们凝视闪烁的星光时 As we gaze at the twinkling lights...
很容易忘却 it's easy to forget...
每一颗都是数十亿颗炙热的太阳中的一员 that each is one of billions of blazing suns...
在融合元素并且可能在创造新的世界 fusing elements and possibly creating new worlds.
我们的距离使得我们感觉不到星星的力量 Our distance gives us no sense of the stars' power.
也让我们感觉不到我们眼中的太空的深邃 lt also gives us no sense...of the endless depth of space we're peering into.
平面的星座是一种错觉 The flat planes of the constellations...are an illusion.
当你从太阳动身启程 As you start getting away from the Sun...
经过几光年 by several light-years...
附近的星星相对更为遥远的背景星开始移动 the nearby stars begin shif ting...relative to the more distant background stars.
这样星座就开始变形 So the constellations start distorting.
当你出去10、20、30光年后 By the time you are out at10, 20, 30 light-years...
你或许就辨认不出有些星座了 you probably wouldn't recognize few of the constellations.
所以如果你居住在织女星的行星上 也就是 So if you lived on a planet going around Vega, let's say...
离这里25光年远 that's 25 light-years away from here...
你就会看到空中有别样的星座组合 you'd have a different set of constellations in your sky.
千年的望星已经让星座的壮丽扫视 Millennia of stargazing have made the grand sweep...
变得平淡乏味 of the constellations predictable.
我们围绕着太阳转 Our rotation around the Sun...
带着我们周而复始 年复一年 carries us through their annual cycle.
星座里的群星不停地移动 The stars in the constellations are in constant motion...
不但随着星系打转 not just as the galaxy spins...
同时还由于各自的引力牵引 相互拽拉 but also as each star"s gravity tugs and pulls on its neighbors.
运动最快的星星有每秒150英里 The fastest motion of the stars is150 miles per second.
没有任何人造物体能赶上它 We don't have any manmade object that can go that fast.
至于这些星星相互之间的无规则运动 The random motions of these stars...with respect to each other...
更像是每秒10到20英里 are more like 10 or 20 miles a second...
比得上我们最快的飞船的速度 and that is comparable to the speed...of our fastest spacecraft.
那当然远远快过高速子弹 That's, of course, way, way faster...than a high-speed bullet.
星星一直在运动 The stars are always moving...
它们与我们之间的距离掩饰了其巨大的速度 and their distance from us masks their enormous speed.
就像是从疾驶的汽车车窗看出去一样 lt's like looking out the window of a speeding automobile.
路旁的栅栏柱和树木呼啸而过 The fence posts and trees closest to the highway...
然而远景却在缓缓过去 whiz by,while the distant landscape creeps slowly past.
我们一生 - 事实上 在近一千个人生时段里 Over our lifetime--in fact, close to a thousand lifetimes...
大多数星星看上去根本就没动 most stars don't appear to move at all.
这不禁让我想到 lt just intrigues me to think...
如果我能找到一个近亲 that if l could find one of our recent relatives...
比如克罗马努人 the Cro-Magnon man, for example...
他或许会纠正我 he would probably correct me...
因为他会对天空更为熟悉 because he would be more familiar with the sky...
他对星座会比现代人了解得更多一些 and he would know the constellations...a little bit better than the people do today.
然而慢慢的 But little by little...
我们的星图正度过有效期 our star maps are reaching their expiration dates.
一万年里星星将明显不一样 ln 10,000 years, the stars...would be noticeably different.
星座将明显不同于我们现在所见到模样 The constellations would be noticeably different...than what we see now.
50万年里它们将面目全非 ln 500,000 years, they will be unrecognizable.
如果你真能看到百万年里的慢镜头照片的话 And if you truly could see a time-lapse photo...over a period of a million years...
事实上你会看到群星在天上赛跑 you would, in fact, see stars racing around the sky.
星座是快照 The constellations are a snapshot...
是夜空的平面肖像 a flattened portrait of the night sky.
和肖像一样 是生动的写照 And like a portrait, it's a good likeness...
但不是整个故事 but not the whole story.
如果我们可以飞进太空 lf we could fly into space...
从另一个角度去看它们 and see them from another angle...
这些古老熟悉的排列将会难以识别 these old, familiar starformations...would be unidentifiable.
然而此时此地 But right here, right now...
88个星座提供着可靠的路标 the 88 constellations provide reassuring guideposts...
同时让我们缅怀过去 while reminding us of our past.
星座确实没有履行起人们当初设计它们时 The constellations really don't fulfill the functions...
所赋予它们的职能 that they fulfilled originally...for the people that devised them.
对他们来说 在他们感兴趣的东西 For them, there was a direct cause-and-effect connection...
与他们的寿命之间存在着一个直接的因果关系 between something that was of interest to them...and their lives.
它们观察天狼星是因为它是季节的指示 They watched Sirius because it was a seasonal indicator.
我们再也不会那样利用天空了 We don't use the sky that way anymore.
然而故事是有弹性的 But the stories are resilient...
图像也是有弹性的 and the images are resilient.
我们守住了那些星座 We hold onto those constellations...
坦率地说 我很高兴 我们这么做了 and frankly, l'm delighted we do.
不是诉说过去的故事 lnstead of telling stories of the past...
现代天文学迫使我们观察星座 modern astronomy compels us to look at constellations...
作为可利用的分类 as a grouping of possibilities.
大部分星座 Most of the constellations...
里头都会有三五个行星 have three to five planets inside them.
再过几年 And in a few more years...
我们将找到或许数百个类地行星 we're gonna identify...perhaps hundreds of Earth-like planets...
围绕着别的恒星运转 orbiting other stars.
所以我们每晚都心怀虔诚 So we will have this epiphany every night...
意识到在我们注视星座时 realizing that when we look at the constellations...
说不定有人在看我们 somebody may be looking back.
在茫茫太空间 ln a space so vast...
我们只能看到宇宙的很小一部分 that we can only see...a small fraction of our universe...
我们看着星空 思量着它的全部含义 we look to the stars, wondering what it all means...
编制图案 编造故事 making patterns, inventing stories...
努力解答着星座里头的秘密 attempting to solve the mysteries...that our constellations hold.
谢谢观赏 Thanks For Viewing