The woman who stared at the sun - Alex Gendler

翻译人员: Alvin Lee 校对人员: Jiasi Hao

In the spring of 1944, Tokyo residents experienced numerous aerial attacks

1944 年春天，东京居民们 遭受了来自盟军轰炸机的

from Allied bombers.

数次空袭。

Air raid sirens warned citizens to get indoors

长鸣不止的空袭警报警示人们躲进室内，

and preceded strategic blackouts across the city.

全城同时实施灯火管制。

But 28-year old Hisako Koyama saw these blackouts as opportunities.

但 28 岁的小山久子却将灯火管制 视为难得的机会。

Dragging a futon over her head for protection,

她拉了条床褥子盖在头顶，

Koyama would gaze at the night sky,

躲在遮挡保护下，小山凝望夜空，

tracking all sorts of astronomical phenomena.

持续追踪各种天文现象。

However, her latest endeavor required the light of day.

然而，她最近的工作需要在白天进行。

By angling her telescope towards the sun,

通过将望远镜以某种角度对着太阳，

Koyama could project the star's light onto a sheet of paper,

小山可以将阳光投射到一张纸上，

allowing her to sketch the sun’s shifting surface.

从而能够用手绘制出太阳 不断变化的表面。

She spent weeks recreating this set up, tracking every change she saw.

她花了数周的时间不断调整这一套装置， 记录她看到的每一点变化。

But while Koyama didn't know it,

当时小山并不知道，

these drawings were the start of one of the most important records

这些手绘文档标志着人类历史上 记录太阳活动观测的开端，

of solar activity in human history.

且是最重要的文件之一。

To understand exactly what Koyama saw on the sun’s surface,

要理解小山从太阳表面观察到的 到底是什么，

we first need to understand what’s happening inside the star.

我们首先需要了解 在这颗恒星内部发生了什么。

Every second, trillions of hydrogen atoms

每一秒钟，就有数万亿氧分子 与氦分子发生结合。

fuse into helium atoms in a process called nuclear fusion.

这一过程叫做核聚变。

This ongoing explosion maintains the sun’s internal temperature

这一持续发生的爆炸 将太阳的内部温度

of roughly 15 million degrees Celsius,

维持在 1500 万摄氏度左右。

which is more than enough energy to transform gas

这一温度蕴含的能力足以将气体

into churning pools of plasma.

转化为不停搅动翻腾的等离子体。

Plasma consists of charged particles that produce powerful magnetic fields.

等离子体由众多带电粒子组成， 这些带电粒子又形成强力的磁场。

But unlike the stable charged particles that maintain magnetic activity on Earth,

但不像地球上由稳定的带电粒子 所形成的稳定的磁场，

this plasma is constantly in flux,

这些等离子体持续处于流通状态，

alternately disrupting and amplifying the sun's magnetic field.

交替扰乱并放大太阳的磁场。

This ongoing movement can produce

这一持续发生的运动

temporary concentrations of magnetic activity

能暂时将磁场活动集中变强，

which inhibit the movement of molecules and in turn reduce heat in that area.

从而抑制该区域的分子活动， 导致温度降低。

And since regions with less heat generate less light,

由于温度较低，产生的光也就越弱，

places with the strongest magnetic fields appear as dark spots

因此磁场最强的地方看起来就会像黑点

scattered across the sun’s surface.

分布在太阳表面。

These so-called sunspots are always moving,

这些太阳黑子总是在移动，

both as a result of plasma swirling within the sphere,

一方面是因为等离子体在太阳球体内搅动，

and the sun’s rotation.

另一方面是太阳本身的旋转。

And because they’re often clustered together,

又因为这些黑子总是成群出现，

accurately counting sunspots and tracking their movement can be a challenge,

因此确定它们的数量 并且跟踪它们的运动就变得十分困难，

depending greatly on the perception and judgment of the viewer.

十分依赖观测者的感知和判断。

This is precisely where Koyama’s contributions would be so valuable.

正因为此， 小山的贡献才显得如此珍贵。

Despite having no formal training in astronomy,

尽管从未接受过天文学方面的正规训练，

her observations and sketches were remarkably accurate.

小山的观测和记录却异常精确。

After sending her work to the Oriental Astronomical Association,

东亚天文学会在收到她的观测成果后，

she received a letter of commendation for her dedicated and detailed observations.

给她发来了嘉奖信， 赞扬了她的辛勤付出和详尽的观测记录。

With their support, she began to visit the Tokyo Museum of Science,

在他们的支持下， 小山来到东京科学博物馆，

where she could use a far superior telescope to continue her work.

使用更先进的望远镜继续她的工作。

Koyama soon joined the museum's staff as a professional observer,

很快小山以职业观测者的身份 成为了博物馆的一员，

and over the next 40 years, she worked on a daily basis,

并在接下来的 40 多年里， 她每天都在博物馆工作，

producing over 10,000 drawings of the sun’s surface.

绘制了超过 1 万幅太阳表面的手稿。

Researchers already knew magnetic currents in the sun followed an 11 year cycle

当时研究人员们已经知道 太阳的磁场遵循 11 年为周期，

that moved sunspots in a butterfly shaped path over the star’s surface.

以蝴蝶状的路径 在太阳表面形成移动的黑子。

But using Koyama’s record,

但利用小山的记录，

they could precisely follow specific sunspots and clusters

在这一过程中，研究人员可以准确跟踪

through that journey.

特定的黑子或黑子群。

This kind of detail offered a real-time indication of the sun’s magnetic activity,

这个级别的细节 可以实时反应出太阳的磁场活动，

allowing scientists to track all kinds of solar phenomena,

从而让科学家 能够追踪各种各样的太阳现象，

including volatile solar flares.

包括爆炸性的太阳耀斑。

These flares typically emanate from the vicinity of sunspots,

这些耀斑通常在太阳黑子附近爆发，

and can travel all the way to Earth’s atmosphere.

并可以一路直冲地球大气层，

Here, they can create geomagnetic storms

掀起地磁风暴。

capable of disrupting long range communication and causing blackouts.

由此能扰乱远距离通信 并引起大规模停电。

Solar flares also pose a major risk to satellites and manned space stations,

太阳耀斑还能对卫星和载人空间站 造成巨大威胁，

making them essential to predict and plan for.

因此预测太阳耀斑并采取对策 变得尤为重要。

During an interview in 1964,

在 1964 年的一次采访中，

Koyama lamented that her 17 years of observation had barely been enough

小山叹息到，自己 17 年的观测

to produce a single butterfly record of the solar cycle.

才勉强能绘出一个太阳周期的蝴蝶图。

But by the end of her career, she’d drawn three and a half cycles—

但到她职业生涯末年， 她已经画了 3.5 个周期——

one of the longest records ever made.

这是有史以来最长的记录之一。

Better still, the quality of her drawings was so consistent,

更棒的是， 她绘图的质量始终如一得高，

researchers used them as a baseline to reconstruct the past 400 years

因此研究人员们将其绘图作为基准线， 通过众多历史资料，

of sunspot activity from various historical sources.

重构了过去 400 年的太阳黑子活动。

This project extends Koyama’s legacy far beyond her own lifetime,

这一项目让小山观测图的影响 远远跨越了她自己的时代，

and proves that science is not built solely on astounding discoveries,

并且证明了科学 不仅仅是建立在惊人的发现上，

but also on careful observation of the world around us.

同时也建立在 仔细观察我们周围的世界。