The first asteroid ever discovered - Carrie Nugent

Translator: Novian Luki Aditia Reviewer: Ade Indarta

On the night of January 1, 1801,

Pada malam 1 Januari 1801,

Giuseppe Piazzi, a priest in Palermo, Italy,

Giuseppe Piazzi, seorang pastur di Palermo, Italia,

was mapping the stars in the sky.

sedang memetakan bintang di langit.

Over three nights, he'd look at and draw the same set of stars,

Selama tiga malam, dia lihat dan gambar gugusan bintang yang sama,

carefully measuring their relative positions.

mengukur posisi relatifnya dengan teliti.

That night, he measured the stars.

Malam itu, dia mengukur gugusan bintang tersebut.

The next night, he measured them again.

Malam berikutnya, dia mengukurnya lagi.

To his surprise, one had moved.

Yang mengejutkan, satu bergerak.

The third night, the peculiar star had moved again.

Malam ketiga, bintang aneh itu bergerak lagi.

This meant it couldn't be a star at all.

Ini berarti objek itu bukan bintang.

It was something new, the first asteroid ever discovered,

Itu adalah objek baru, asteroid pertama yang pernah ditemukan,

which Piazzi eventually named Ceres.

yang akhirnya Piazzi namai Ceres.

Asteroids are bits of rock and metal that orbit the Sun.

Asteroid adalah bongkahan batu dan logam yang mengorbit Matahari.

At over 900 kilometers across, Ceres is a very large asteroid.

Dengan diameter 900 kilometer lebih, Ceres adalah asteroid yang sangat besar.

But through a telescope, like Piazzi's,

Tapi dari teleskop Piazzi,

Ceres looked like a pinpoint of light similar to a star.

Ceres seperti titik cahaya yang mirip bintang.

In fact, the word asteroid means star-like.

Kata asteroid sendiri berarti "seperti bintang".

You can tell the difference between stars

Kamu bisa tahu perbedaan antara bintang

and asteroids by the way they move across the sky.

dan asteroid dari gerakan mereka melintasi langit.

Of course, Piazzi knew none of that at the time,

Tentu saja Piazzi tidak tahu perbedaan tersebut saat itu,

just that he had discovered something new.

tapi dia telah menemukan hal yang baru.

To learn about Ceres,

Untuk mempelajari Ceres,

Piazzi needed to track its motion across the sky

Piazzi harus melacak gerakannya melintasi langit

and then calculate its orbit around the Sun.

lalu menghitung orbitnya di sekitar Matahari.

So each clear night, Piazzi trained his telescope to the heavens.

Jadi setiap malam yang cerah, Piazzi mengarahkan teleskopnya ke langit.

Night after night, he made careful measurements

Malam demi malam, dia melakukan pengukuran cermat

until finally, he couldn't.

sampai akhirnya, dia tidak bisa.

The Sun got in the way.

Matahari penyebabnya.

When Piazzi first spotted Ceres, it was here, and the Earth was here.

Ketika Piazzi pertama kali melihat Ceres, letaknya di sini, dan Bumi di sini.

As he tracked it each night, the Earth and Ceres moved like this

Saat dia melacaknya setiap malam, Bumi dan Ceres bergerak seperti ini

until Ceres was here.

sampai Ceres ada di sini.

And that meant that Ceres was only in the sky when it was daytime on Earth.

Itu berarti Ceres ada di langit hanya ketika siang hari.

During the day, bright sunlight made this small asteroid impossible to see.

Saat siang, sinar terang matahari membuat asteroid kecil ini mustahil untuk dilihat.

Astronomers needed to calculate Ceres's orbit.

Astronom perlu menghitung orbit Ceres.

This would let them predict where it was going to be

Dengan begitu mereka bisa memprediksi posisinya

in the vast night sky on any given night.

di langit malam yang luas pada malam tertentu.

But the calculations were grueling and the results imprecise.

Tapi perhitungannya sangat melelahkan dan hasilnya tidak tepat.

Many astronomers searched for Ceres,

Banyak astronom mencari Ceres,

but not knowing exactly where to look, no one could find it.

karena tidak tahu harus mencari di mana, tidak ada yang bisa menemukannya.

Luckily, a hardworking mathematician named Carl Friedrich Gauss

Untungnya, seorang matematikawan ulet bernama Carl Friedrich Gauss

heard about the lost asteroid.

mendengar tentang asteroid hilang itu.

He thought it was an exciting puzzle and went to work.

Menurutnya itu teka-teki yang menarik dan mulai mencarinya.

When he realized he didn't have the mathematical methods he needed,

Saat menyadari dia tidak memiliki metode matematika yang dibutuhkan,

he invented new ones that we still use today.

dia ciptakan metode baru yang masih kita gunakan saat ini.

He derived a new orbit and new predictions of where to look for Ceres.

Dia memperoleh orbit baru dan prediksi baru tentang tempat mencari Ceres.

Hungarian astronomer Baron Franz Xaver von Zach

Astronom Hungaria Baron Franz Xaver von Zach

searched for Ceres with Gauss's predictions.

mencari Ceres dengan prediksi Gauss.

After weeks of frustrating clouds,

Setelah berminggu-minggu dibuat kesal oleh awan,

von Zach finally had clear skies on December 31, 1801.

von Zach akhirnya mendapatkan langit yang cerah pada 31 Desember 1801.

He looked through his telescope and finally saw Ceres.

Dia cari melalui teleskopnya dan akhirnya melihat Ceres.

We haven't lost track of it since.

Kita belum kehilangan jejaknya sejak saat itu.

Today, we've discovered hundreds of thousands of asteroids.

Saat ini, kita telah menemukan ratusan ribu asteroid.

Many, including Ceres, orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter,

Sebagian besar, termasuk Ceres, mengorbit Matahari di antara Mars dan Jupiter,

while near-Earth asteroids orbit the Sun relatively close to Earth.

sementara asteroid di dekat Bumi mengorbit Matahari relatif dekat dengan Bumi.

When we recorded this narration,

Ketika kami merekam narasi ini,

astronomers had discovered 16,407 near-Earth asteroids,

astronom telah menemukan16.407 asteroid yang dekat dengan Bumi,

but since we find new asteroids all the time,

tapi karena kita terus menemukan asteroid baru,

that number will have grown by hundreds or thousands

jumlah itu akan bertambah ratusan atau ribuan

by the time you watch this.

saat kamu menonton video ini.

Today, asteroid hunters use modern telescopes,

Saat ini, pemburu asteroid menggunakan teleskop modern,

including one in space.

salah satunya di luar angkasa.

Computers analyze the images,

Komputer menganalisis gambarnya,

and humans check the output

dan manusia memeriksa hasilnya

before reporting the asteroid observations to an archiving center.

sebelum melaporkan pengamatan asteroid tersebut ke pusat arsip.

Each discovered asteroid has its unique orbit measured.

Setiap asteroid yang sudah ditemukan orbit uniknya sudah diukur.

An orbit lets astronomers predict where asteroids are going to be

Sebuah orbit membantu astronom memprediksi posisi asteroid

at any given time.

pada waktu tertentu.

Most asteroid trajectories can be predicted for about 80 years

Sebagian besar lintasan asteroid dapat diprediksi untuk 80 tahun ke depan

though we can calculate where the best studied asteroids will be every day

meskipun kita bisa menebak posisi asteroid terbaik setiap harinya

between now and 800 years into the future.

antara sekarang sampai 800 tahun ke depan.

We must keep searching for asteroids

Kita harus terus mencari asteroid

in case there's one out there on a collision course with Earth.

mungkin ada satu di luar sana yang akan bertabrakan dengan Bumi.

Astronomers don't only search for asteroids, though.

Sebenarnya astronom tidak hanya mencari asteroid saja.

They also study them to learn how they formed,

Mereka juga mempelajari bagaimana terbentuknya,

what they're made of,

terbuat dari apa,

and what they can tell us about our solar system.

dan informasi lain tentang tata surya kita.

Today, we can do something that Piazzi could only dream of:

Saat ini, kita bisa melakukan sesuatu yang hanya bisa diimpikan oleh Piazzi:

send spacecraft to study asteroids up close.

mengirim pesawat luar angkasa untuk mempelajari asteroid dari dekat.

One spacecraft called Dawn journeyed billions of kilometers

Pesawat ruang angkasa bernama Dawn menempuh miliaran kilometer

over four years to the main asteroid belt.

selama empat tahun lebih ke sabuk asteroid utama.

There, it visited Ceres and another asteroid, Vesta.

Di sana, ia mengunjungi Ceres dan asteroid lainnya, Vesta.

Dawn's stunning images transformed Piazzi's dot of light

Gambar menakjubkan dari Dawn mengubah titik cahaya Piazzi

into a spectacular landscape of craters,

menjadi pemandangan kawah yang spektakuler,

landslides,

longsoran tanah,

and mountains.

dan pegunungan.