This new telescope might show us the beginning of the universe | Wendy Freedman

Translator: Lúa Cruz Fernández Reviewer: Xusto Rodriguez

When I was 14 years old, I was interested in science --

Cando tiña 14 anos, interesábame a ciencia,

fascinated by it, excited to learn about it.

fascinábame, entusiasmábame aprendela.

And I had a high school science teacher who would say to the class,

E tiven un profesor de ciencias no instituto que nos dixo na clase:

"The girls don't have to listen to this."

"As rapazas non tedes que escoitar isto".

Encouraging, yes.

Alentador, a que si?

(Laughter)

(Risas)

I chose not to listen -- but to that statement alone.

Decidín non escoitar -- só esa afirmación en concreto.

So let me take you to the Andes mountains in Chile,

Déixenme levalos ao cordal dos Andes, en Chile,

500 kilometers, 300 miles northeast of Santiago.

a 500 kilómetros, 300 millas, ao nordés de Santiago.

It's very remote, it's very dry and it's very beautiful.

É un lugar moi afastado, moi seco e moi fermoso.

And there's not much there.

E non hai moito máis alí.

There are condors, there are tarantulas,

Hai cóndores, tarántulas,

and at night, when the light dims,

e de noite, cando a luz é tenue,

it reveals one of the darkest skies on Earth.

pódese ver un dos ceos máis escuros da Terra.

It's kind of a magic place, the mountain.

É unha especie de lugar máxico, a montaña.

It's a wonderful combination of very remote mountaintop

É unha combinación marabillosa de afastados cumes

with exquisitely sophisticated technology.

cunha tecnoloxía sumamente avanzada.

And our ancestors, for as long as there's been recorded history,

E os nosos devanceiros, dende que hai rexistros históricos,

have looked at the night sky and pondered the nature of our existence.

miraron cara ao ceo nocturno cavilando sobre a natureza da existencia.

And we're no exception, our generation.

E a nosa xeración non é unha excepción.

The only difficulty is that the night sky now is blocked

O único problema é que o ceo nocturno agora está iluminado

by the glare of city lights.

pola luz das cidades.

And so astronomers go to these very remote mountaintops

Por iso, os astrónomos van a estes afastados cumes

to view and to study the cosmos.

para examinar e estudar o cosmos.

So telescopes are our window to the cosmos.

Os telescopios son a nosa xanela ao cosmos.

It's no exaggeration to say that the Southern Hemisphere is going to be

Non esaxero se lles digo que o hemisferio sur vai ser

the future of astronomy for the 21st century.

o futuro da astronomía durante o século XXI.

We have an array of existing telescopes already,

Xa temos unha serie de telescopios,

in the Andes mountains in Chile,

no cordal dos Andes, en Chile,

and that's soon to be joined by a really sensational array of new capability.

á que axiña se unirá outra serie incrible de nova capacidade.

There will be two international groups that are going to be building

Vai haber dous grupos internacionais que construirán

giant telescopes, sensitive to optical radiation, as our eyes are.

telescopios xigantes, sensibles á radiación óptica, coma os nosos ollos.

There will be a survey telescope

Vai haber un telescopio de rastrexo

that will be scanning the sky every few nights.

que analizará o ceo cada poucas noites.

There will be radio telescopes,

Vai haber radiotelescopios,

sensitive to long-wavelength radio radiation.

sensibles a radiacións de onda longa.

And then there will be telescopes in space.

E despois, haberá telescopios no espazo.

There'll be a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope;

Haberá un sucesor do Telescopio Espacial Hubble:

it's called the James Webb Telescope,

chámase o Telescopio James Webb

and it will be launched in 2018.

e lanzarase no 2018.

There'll be a satellite called TESS

Haberá un satélite chamado TESS

that will discover planets outside of our solar system.

que vai descubrir planetas fóra do noso sistema solar.

For the last decade, I've been leading a group --

Durante a última década, estiven a liderar un grupo,

a consortium -- international group,

un consorcio -- un grupo internacional,

to build what will be, when it's finished,

para constuír o que será, cando se remate,

the largest optical telescope in existence.

o maior telescopio óptico que existe.

It's called the Giant Magellan Telescope, or GMT.

Chámase Telescopio Xigante de Magalhães, ou GMT (Giant Magellan Telescope).

This telescope is going to have mirrors that are 8.4 meters in diameter --

Este telescopio vai ter espellos de 8,4 metros de diámetro--

each of the mirrors.

cada espello.

That's almost 27 feet.

Case 9 metros.

So it dwarfs this stage -- maybe out to the fourth row in this audience.

Será máis grande ca este escenario--- case ata a cuarta fila do público.

Each of the seven mirrors in this telescope

Cada un dos sete espellos do telescopio

will be almost 27 feet in diameter.

terá case 9 metros de diámetro.

Together, the seven mirrors in this telescope will comprise

Xuntos, eses sete espellos medirán

80 feet in diameter.

algo máis de 24 metros de diámetro.

So, essentially the size of this entire auditorium.

Polo tanto, será, practicamente, o tamaño deste auditorio.

The whole telescope will stand about 43 meters high,

O telescopio estará a case 43 metros de altura,

and again, being in Rio,

e de novo, estando en Río,

some of you have been to see the statue of the giant Christ.

algúns de vós debedes ter visto a estatua do Cristo xigante.

The scale is comparable in height;

A escala é comparable en altura.

in fact, it's smaller than this telescope will be.

De feito, é máis pequeno do que este telescopio vai ser.

It's comparable to the size of the Statue of Liberty.

É comparable ao tamaño da Estatua da Liberdade.

And it's going to be housed in an enclosure that's 22 stories --

E aloxarase nun recinto de 22 andares.

60 meters high.

60 metros de altura.

But it's an unusual building to protect this telescope.

Pero é un edificio pouco común para protexer este telescopio.

It will have open windows to the sky,

Terá xanelas abertas cara o ceo,

be able to point and look at the sky,

poderá apuntar e mirar o ceo,

and it will actually rotate on a base --

e rotará nunha base --

2,000 tons of rotating building.

un edificio xiratorio de 2.000 toneladas.

The Giant Magellan Telescope will have 10 times the resolution

O Telescopio Xigante de Magalhães terá 10 veces a resolución

of the Hubble Space Telescope.

do Telescopio Espacial Hubble.

It will be 20 million times more sensitive than the human eye.

Será 20 millóns de veces máis sensible ca o ollo humano.

And it may, for the first time ever, be capable of finding life on planets

e poderá, por primeira vez na historia, atopar vida en planetas

outside of our solar system.

que están fóra do noso sistema solar.

It's going to allow us to look back at the first light in the universe --

Vainos permitir mirar cara a atrás e ver a primeira luz do universo --

literally, the dawn of the cosmos.

literalmente, o alborecer do cosmos.

The cosmic dawn.

O alborecer cósmico.

It's a telescope that's going to allow us to peer back,

Este telescopio permitiranos observar o pasado,

witness galaxies as they were when they were actually assembling,

ver as galaxias tal como eran cando se estaban a formar,

the first black holes in the universe, the first galaxies.

os primeiros buracos negros do universo, as primeiras galaxias.

Now, for thousands of years, we have been studying the cosmos,

Durante os milleiros de anos que estudamos o cosmos,

we've been wondering about our place in the universe.

preguntámonos cal é o noso lugar no universo.

The ancient Greeks told us

Os antigos gregos dixéronnos

that the Earth was the center of the universe.

que a Terra era o centro do universo.

Five hundred years ago, Copernicus displaced the Earth,

Hai cincocentos anos, Copérnico desprazou a Terra

and put the Sun at the heart of the cosmos.

e situou o Sol no corazón do cosmos.

And as we've learned over the centuries,

Tal como aprendemos ao longo dos séculos,

since Galileo Galilei, the Italian scientist,

dende que Galileo Galilei, o científico italiano,

first turned, in that time, a two-inch, very small telescope, to the sky,

apuntou cara ao ceo cun pequeno telescopio de 5 centímetros,

every time we have built larger telescopes,

sempre que construímos telescopios maiores,

we have learned something about the universe;

descubrimos algo sobre o universo;

we've made discoveries, without exception.

fixemos descubrimentos, sen excepcións.

We've learned in the 20th century that the universe is expanding

No século XX descubrimos que o universo se está a expandir

and that our own solar system is not at the center of that expansion.

e que o noso sistema solar non é o centro desta expansión.

We know now that the universe is made of about 100 billion galaxies

Agora sabemos que o universo se compón duns 100 mil millóns de galaxias

that are visible to us,

visibles para nós,

and each one of those galaxies has 100 billion stars within it.

e cada unha desas galaxias contén 100 mil millóns de estrelas.

So we're looking now at the deepest image of the cosmos

Agora miramos cara á imaxe máis profunda do cosmos

that's ever been taken.

como nunca antes o fixeramos.

It was taken using the Hubble Space Telescope,

Sacouna o Telescopio Espacial Hubble

and by pointing the telescope at what was previously a blank region of sky,

apuntando cara a unha parte do ceo que estaba baleira,

before the launch of Hubble.

antes do lanzamento do Hubble.

And if you can imagine this tiny area,

E se poden imaxinar esta área diminuta,

it's only one-fiftieth of the size of the full moon.

é só unha cincuentava parte do tamaño da Lúa.

So, if you can imagine the full moon.

Poden imaxinar o tamaño da Lúa.

And there are now 10,000 galaxies visible within that image.

Agora existen 10.000 galaxias visibles nesta imaxe.

And the faintness of those images and the tiny size is only a result

E o tenue das imaxes e mais o tamaño diminuto é só o resultado

of the fact that those galaxies are so far away, the vast distances.

de que esas galaxias están moi afastadas, a longa distancia.

And each of those galaxies may contain within it

Cada unha delas pode conter

a few billion or even hundreds of billions of individual stars.

miles de millóns ou incluso centos de miles de millóns de estrelas.

Telescopes are like time machines.

Os telescopios son coma máquinas do tempo.

So the farther back we look in space, the further back we see in time.

Canto máis lonxe miramos no espazo, máis atrás miramos no tempo.

And they're like light buckets -- literally, they collect light.

E hai coma baldes de luz -- literalmente, acumulan luz.

So larger the bucket, the larger the mirror we have,

Así, canto máis grande é o balde máis grande é o espello que temos,

the more light we can see, and the farther back we can view.

máis luz podemos ver e máis atrás podemos mirar.

So, we've learned in the last century

No último século descubrimos

that there are exotic objects in the universe -- black holes.

que no universo hai obxectos exóticos -- os buracos negros.

We've even learned that there's dark matter and dark energy

Descubrimos que existen a materia e a enerxía escuras

that we can't see.

que non podemos ver.

So you're looking now at an actual image of dark matter.

Agora estades a mirar unha imaxe real da materia escura.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

You got it. Not all audiences get that.

Entendéstelo. Non todo o mundo o entende.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

So the way we infer the presence of dark matter --

Entón, o xeito como concluímos que había materia escura --

we can't see it -- but there's an unmistakable tug, due to gravity.

non a podemos ver -- mais hai un tirón inconfundible, debido á gravidade.

We now can look out, we see this sea of galaxies

Se prestamos atención, vemos este mar de galaxias

in a universe that's expanding.

nun universo que se expande.

What I do myself is to measure the expansion of the universe,

O que eu fago é medir a expansión do universo

and one of the projects that I carried out in the 1990s

e nun dos proxectos que levei a cabo nos 90

used the Hubble Space Telescope to measure how fast the universe is expanding.

usei o Telescopio Espacial Hubble para medir a velocidade a que se expande.

We can now trace back to 14 billion years.

Agora podémonos remontar a hai 14 mil millón de anos.

We've learned over time that stars have individual histories;

Co tempo descubrimos que cada estrela ten a súa historia;

that is, they have birth, they have middle ages

teñen nacemento, madureza

and some of them even have dramatic deaths.

e incluso algunhas teñen unha morte dramática.

So the embers from those stars actually then form the new stars that we see,

E as brasas desas estrelas forman as novas que vemos,

most of which turn out to have planets going around them.

a maioría das cales acaban por ter planetas arredor delas.

And one of the really surprising results in the last 20 years

E un dos resultados máis sorprendentes dos últimos 20 anos

has been the discovery of other planets going around other stars.

foi o descubrimento doutros planetas que gravitan arredor doutras estrelas.

These are called exoplanets.

Os chamados exoplanetas.

And until 1995, we didn't even know the existence of any other planets,

E ata 1995, non sabiamos da existencia doutros planetas

other than going around our own sun.

que non fosen os do noso Sistema Solar.

But now, there are almost 2,000 other planets orbiting other stars

Mais agora, hai case 2.000 planetas orbitando arredor doutras estrelas

that we can now detect, measure masses for.

que podemos identificar, cuxa masa podemos medir.

There are 500 of those that are multiple-planet systems.

500 deles son sistemas multiplanetarios.

And there are 4,000 -- and still counting -- other candidates

E hai outros 4.000 candidatos -- e seguimos a contar --

for planets orbiting other stars.

a planetas que orbitan outras estrelas.

They come in a bewildering variety of different kinds.

Preséntanse nunha desconcertante variedade de tipoloxías diferentes.

There are Jupiter-like planets that are hot,

Hai planetas similares a Xúpiter, que son quentes,

there are other planets that are icy, there are water worlds

hai outros que están conxelados, hai mundo acuáticos

and there are rocky planets like the Earth, so-called "super-Earths,"

e hai planetas rochosos coma a Terra, chamados "Súperterras",

and there have even been planets that have been speculated diamond worlds.

e incluso houbo planetas que se especula foron mundos de diamante.

So we know there's at least one planet, our own Earth, in which there is life.

Sabemos que, polo menos nun planeta, o noso, hai vida.

We've even found planets that are orbiting two stars.

Atopamos incluso planetas que orbitan dúas estrelas.

That's no longer the province of science fiction.

Xa non é cousa da ciencia ficción.

So around our own planet, we know there's life,

No noso planeta sabemos que hai vida,

we've developed a complex life, we now can question our own origins.

desenvolvemos unha vida complexa, podemos preguntarnos sobre a nosa orixe.

And given all that we've discovered, the overwhelming numbers now suggest

E dado todo o que descubrimos, agora a enorme cantidade suxire

that there may be millions, perhaps -- maybe even hundreds of millions --

que hai millóns -- incluso talvez centos de millóns --

of other [planets] that are close enough --

de planetas que están abondo preto --

just the right distance from their stars that they're orbiting --

xusto á distancia exacta das estrelas arredor das que orbitan --

to have the existence of liquid water and maybe could potentially support life.

para teren auga en estado líquido, polo que poderían albergar vida.

So we marvel now at those odds, the overwhelming odds,

Marabillámonos con estas probabilidades, enormes probabilidades,

and the amazing thing is that within the next decade,

e o máis marabilloso é que durante a vindeira década

the GMT may be able to take spectra of the atmospheres of those planets,

o GMT talvez poida analizar os espectros das atmosferas deses planetas

and determine whether or not they have the potential for life.

e determinar se existe ou non a posibilidade de que alberguen vida.

So, what is the GMT project?

Entón, que é o proxecto GMT?

It's an international project.

É un proxecto internacional.

It includes Australia, South Korea, and I'm happy to say, being here in Rio,

Inclúe a Australia, Corea do Sur, e encántame poder dicir, aquí en Río,

that the newest partner in our telescope is Brazil.

que o máis recente socio no noso telescopio é Brasil.

(Applause)

(Aplausos)

It also includes a number of institutions across the United States,

Tamén inclúe unha serie de institucións ao longo dos Estados Unidos,

including Harvard University,

coma a Universidade de Harvard,

the Smithsonian and the Carnegie Institutions,

as Institucións Smithsonian e Carnegie,

and the Universities of Arizona, Chicago, Texas-Austin and Texas A&M University.

e as universidades de Arizona, Chicago, Texas-Austin e Texas A&M.

It also involves Chile.

Tamén inclúe a Chile.

So, the making of the mirrors in this telescope is also fascinating

A fabricación dos espellos do telescopio

in its own right.

é tamén fascinante en si mesma.

Take chunks of glass, melt them in a furnace that is itself rotating.

Coller anacos de cristal, fundilos nun forno que está a rotar.

This happens underneath the football stadium

Isto ocorre debaixo do estadio de fútbol

at the University of Arizona.

da Universidade de Arizona.

It's tucked away under 52,000 seats.

Está agochado debaixo de 52.000 asentos.

Nobody know it's happening.

Ninguén sabe que se fai isto.

And there's essentially a rotating cauldron.

É basicamente un caldeiro que rota.

The mirrors are cast and they're cooled very slowly,

Os espellos fúndense e arrefrían moi lentamente,

and then they're polished to an exquisite precision.

e despois pólense con extrema precisión.

And so, if you think about the precision of these mirrors,

Se pensan na precisión destes espellos,

the bumps on the mirror, over the entire 27 feet,

as protuberancias no espello, en todos eses case 9 metros,

amount to less than one-millionth of an inch.

representan menos dunha millonésima parte dun centímetro.

So, can you visualize that?

Poden imaxinalo?

Ow!

Uau!

(Laughter)

(Risas)

That's one five-thousandths of the width of one of my hairs,

Iso son as cinco milésimas partes do grosor dun cabelo meu,

over this entire 27 feet.

sobre estes case 9 metros.

It's a spectacular achievement.

É un logro incrible.

It's what allows us to have the precision that we will have.

É o que nos permite ter a precisión que imos ter.

So, what does that precision buy us?

E entón, que nos da esta precisión?

So the GMT, if you can imagine --

O GMT, intenten imaxinar --

if I were to hold up a coin, which I just happen to have,

se termo dunha moeda, que por casualidade teño por aquí,

and I look at the face of that coin, I can see from here

e miro unha das súas caras, podo ver dende aquí

the writing on the coin; I can see the face on that coin.

a inscrición, podo ver a cara.

My guess that even in the front row, you can't see that.

Supoño que incluso os da primeira fila xa non sodes quen de velo.

But if we were to turn the Giant Magellan Telescope,

Pero se tivermos o Telescopio Xigante de Magalhães,

all 80-feet diameter that we see in this auditorium,

nos 24 metros de diámetro que vemos neste auditorio,

and point it 200 miles away,

e apuntásemos a 320 km de distancia,

if I were standing in São Paulo, we could resolve the face of this coin.

se eu estivese en São Paulo, poderiamos ver a cara da moeda.

That's the extraordinary resolution and power of this telescope.

Esa é a resolución e poder extraodinarios deste telescopio.

And if we were --

E se --

(Applause)

(Aplausos)

If an astronaut went up to the Moon, a quarter of a million miles away,

Se un astronauta estivese na Lúa, a catrocentos mil kilómetros,

and lit a candle -- a single candle --

e prendese unha candea -- só unha --

then we would be able to detect it, using the GMT.

poderiamos vela co GMT.

Quite extraordinary.

Extraodinario.

This is a simulated image of a cluster in a nearby galaxy.

Está é unha imaxe simulada dun cúmulo nunha galaxia que está preto

"Nearby" is astronomical, it's all relative.

"Preto" en astronomía é moi relativo.

It's tens of millions of light-years away.

Está a dez millóns de anos luz.

This is what this cluster would look like.

Así sería como como se vería.

So look at those four bright objects,

Miren eses catro obxectos luminosos

and now lets compare it with a camera on the Hubble Space Telescope.

e compárenos cunha imaxe da cámara do Telescopio Espacial Hubble.

You can see faint detail that starts to come through.

Lógranse ver algúns lixeiros detalles das estrelas.

And now finally -- and look how dramatic this is -- this is what the GMT will see.

E agora, -- miren que espectacular -- isto é o que se verá co GMT.

So, keep your eyes on those bright images again.

Miren de novo esas imaxes brillantes.

This is what we see on one of the most powerful existing telescopes on the Earth,

Isto é o que se ve grazas a un dos telescopios máis potentes da Terra,

and this, again, what the GMT will see.

e isto, de novo, o que se verá co GMT.

Extraordinary precision.

Unha precisión extraodinaria.

So, where are we?

Entón, onde estamos?

We have now leveled the top of the mountaintop in Chile.

Agora acabamos de chegar ao cume das montañas en Chile.

We blasted that off.

E comezamos a traballar.

We've tested and polished the first mirror.

Xa probamos e pulimos o primeiro espello.

We've cast the second and the third mirrors.

Xa fixemos o segundo e mais o terceiro.

And we're about to cast the fourth mirror.

E estamos a piques de facer o cuarto.

We had a series of reviews this year,

Tivemos varios exames este ano,

international panels that came in and reviewed us,

expertos internacionais que examinaron o noso traballo

and said, "You're ready to go to construction."

e dixeron: "estades listos para construír".

And so we plan on building this telescope with the first four mirrors.

Entón pensamos construír este telescopio cos primeiros catro espellos.

We want to get on the air quickly, and be taking science data --

Queremos poñelo en marcha axiña e comezar a recoller datos científicos --

what we astronomers call "first light," in 2021.

o que os astrónomos chamamos "a primeira luz", para 2021.

And the full telescope will be finished in the middle of the next decade,

E o telescopio enteiro estará rematado a mediados da próxima década,

with all seven mirrors.

cos sete espellos.

So we're now poised to look back at the distant universe,

Agora estamos preparados para mirar atrás no afastado universo,

the cosmic dawn.

o alborecer cósmico.

We'll be able to study other planets in exquisite detail.

Poderemos estudar outros planetas cunha gran precisión.

But for me, one of the most exciting things about building the GMT

Pero para min, un dos aspectos máis emocionantes de construír o GMT

is the opportunity to actually discover something

é ter a oportunidade de descubrir de verdade algo

that we don't know about -- that we can't even imagine at this point,

que non saibamos -- que nin poidamos imaxinar neste momento,

something completely new.

algo totalmente novo.

And my hope is that with the construction of this and other facilities,

E teño a esperanza de que con esta e con outras instalacións,

that many young women and men will be inspired to reach for the stars.

moitas rapazas e rapaces novos se animen a acadar as estrelas.

Thank you very much.

Moitas grazas.

Obrigado.

Obrigado.

(Applause)

(Aplausos)

Bruno Giussani: Thank you, Wendy.

Bruno Giussani: Grazas, Wendy.

Stay with me, because I have a question for you.

Queda comigo, porque teño unha pregunta.

You mentioned different facilities.

Citaches varias instalacións.

So the Magellan Telescope is going up, but also ALMA and others in Chile

O Telescopio de Magalhães estase a facer mais tamén o ALMA e outros en Chile

and elsewhere, including in Hawaii.

e noutros lugares, coma Hawaii.

Is it about cooperation and complementarity, or about competition?

Trátase de colaborar e de complementarse ou máis ben dunha competición?

I know there's competition in terms of funding, but what about the science?

Sei que é competición polos fondos, pero que pasa coa ciencia?

Wendy Freedman: In terms of the science, they're very complementary.

Wendy Freedman: Con respecto á ciencia, trátase de complementarse.

The telescopes that are in space, the telescopes on the ground,

Os telescopios que están no espazo, os que están no chan,

telescopes with different wavelength capability,

os telescopios con distintas lonxitudes de onda,

telescopes even that are similar, but different instruments --

incluso telescopios parecidos, pero con instrumentación diferente --

they will all look at different parts of the questions that we're asking.

Mirarán para distintas partes das preguntas que nos facemos.

So when we discover other planets, we'll be able to test those observations,

Entón, cando descubramos outros planetas, e poidamos comprobar os datos,

we'll be able to measure the atmospheres,

poderemos medir as atmosferas,

be able to look in space with very high resolution.

miraremos cara ao espazo cunha gran resolución.

So, they're very complementary.

Entón, son complementarios.

You're right about the funding, we compete;

Tes razón no de que competimos polos fondos

but scientifically, it's very complementary.

pero científicamente, trátase de complementariedade.

BG: Wendy, thank you very much for coming to TEDGlobal.

BG: Wendy, moitísimas grazas por vir a TEDGlobal.

WF: Thank you.

WF: Grazas.

(Applause)

(Aplausos)