Anil Ananthaswamy: What it takes to do extreme astrophysics

Translator: Ujjwol Lamichhane Reviewer: Jyoti Lamichhane

I would like to talk today

म आज बोल्न चाहान्छु

about what I think is one of the greatest adventures

त्यो कुरा जुन मलाइ लाग्छ एक महत्तम साहसिक कार्य हो

human beings have embarked upon,

जुन मनुष्यहरुले प्रारम्भन गरेकाछन्,

which is the quest to understand the universe

ब्रह्माण्ड बुझ्ने अन्वेषण

and our place in it.

तथा ब्रह्माण्डमा हाम्रो स्थान ।

My own interest in this subject, and my passion for it,

यो विषयमा मेरो आफ्नो रुचि, एवं मेरो अनुरस चाँहि

began rather accidentally.

अकस्मात आरम्भ भयो ।

I had bought a copy of this book,

मैले यो पुस्तको एक प्रति किनेको थिएँ

"The Universe and Dr. Einstein" --

"ब्रह्माण्ड तथा विद्वान् आइन्स्टाइन्" —

a used paperback from a secondhand bookstore in Seattle.

सिएटल्को पूर्व प्रयुक्‍त पुस्तकापणमा किनिएको एक प्रयुक्त पत्रावरणबद्ध पुस्तक

A few years after that, in Bangalore,

केहि वर्ष पछि, बॆंगळूरु नगरमा

I was finding it hard to fall asleep one night,

मलाइ निद्रा लाग्न गाह्रो भिइ रहेको थियो,

and I picked up this book,

र मैले यो पुस्तक पढ्न थाले

thinking it would put me to sleep in 10 minutes.

किनकी यस्ले मलाइ १० मिनेट् मै निद्रामा पुर्‍याउँछ भनेर।

And as it happened,

तर के भयो भन्दा,

I read it from midnight to five in the morning in one shot.

मैले यो पुस्तक मध्यरात देखि बिहानको पाँच बजे सम्म लगातार पढेर एक पटक मै सकेँ ।

And I was left with this intense feeling

अनि ममा यो तीव्र भावना आयो

of awe and exhilaration

सश्रद्ध उत्तेजना तथा आनन्दको भावना

at the universe

ब्रह्माण्डका निम्ति

and our own ability to understand as much as we do.

र हाम्रो बुझ्ने क्षमता का निम्ति ।

And that feeling hasn't left me yet.

र आज सम्म पनि मलाइ त्यो भावनाले छोडेको छैन ।

That feeling was the trigger for me

त्यो भावना नै थियो मेरा निम्ति आरम्भक

to actually change my career --

जसले गर्दा मैले आफ्नो पेशा परिवर्तन गरेँ--

from being a software engineer to become a science writer --

प्रक्रियासामग्री अभियन्त्रक बाट विज्ञान लेखक--

so that I could partake in the joy of science,

यस अर्थले की म विज्ञानको हर्षमा सम्मिलित हुनसकु

and also the joy of communicating it to others.

र अरुलाइ सम्प्रेषण गर्नुको हर्ष ।

And that feeling also led me

एवं त्यो भावनाले मलाई

to a pilgrimage of sorts,

तीर्थयात्रा झै

to go literally to the ends of the earth

पृथिवीका स्वरुपतया शेषहरुमा लग्यो

to see telescopes, detectors,

हेर्न ती दूरदर्शकहरु, संसूचकहरु,

instruments that people are building, or have built,

उपकरणहरु जुन मनुष्यहरु निर्माण गरेँ अथवा गर्दैछन्

in order to probe the cosmos

यस अर्थ की हाम्ले विश्वब्रह्माण्डलाई अनुसन्धान गर्न

in greater and greater detail.

उच्चतर तथा उच्चतर विस्तारमा ।

So it took me from places like Chile --

चिलीदेश आदि स्थान देखि--

the Atacama Desert in Chile --

चिलीदेशको आटाकामा मरुभूमिदेखि --

to Siberia,

साइबेरिया सम्म,

to underground mines

भूमिगत खानिहरु सम्म,

in the Japanese Alps, in Northern America,

जापानी एल्पस् पर्वतमालामा, उत्तरी अमेरिकामा,

all the way to Antarctica

देखि अण्टार्क्टिकासम्मै

and even to the South Pole.

र दक्षिण ध्रुवमा पनि ।

And today I would like to share with you

र आज म तपाँइँहरुको समक्ष बाँड्न चाहाँन्छु

some images, some stories of these trips.

केहि छायाचित्रहरु, केहि कथाहरु यस यात्राका

I have been basically spending the last few years

मूलतः मैले गएका केहि वर्षहरु

documenting the efforts

यी प्रयासहरुलाइ प्रलेखन गरेँ

of some extremely intrepid men and women

ती अति वीर पुरुष स्रीहरुको

who are putting,

जो यी प्रयासहरुका निमित्त

literally at times, their lives at stake

साँच्चै नै कुनै कालला, आफ्नो प्राण कै बाजि राख्छन्

working in some very remote and very hostile places

अति दूरस्थ तथा अति शत्रुतापूर्ण स्थानमा कर्म गर्छन्

so that they may gather the faintest signals from the cosmos

यस प्रयोजनका निम्ति की तिनीहरुले ब्रह्माण्डबाट आएको मधुरो सङ्केतलाइ सङ्ग्रह गर्न सकुन

in order for us to understand this universe.

हामलाइ ब्रह्माण्ड बुझ्नका निम्ति ।

And I first begin with a pie chart --

सर्वप्रथम म एक वृत्तखण्ड रेखाचित्रबाट।

and I promise this is the only pie chart

र म प्रतिज्ञा गर्छु की यो एक मात्र वृत्तखण्ड रेखाचित्र हुनेछ

in the whole presentation --

यो सम्पूर्ण प्रस्तुति भरि ।

but it sets up the state of our knowledge of the cosmos.

किन्तु यसले ब्रह्माण्डबारे रहेको हाम्रो ज्ञानको अवस्था दर्शाउँछ ।

All the theories in physics that we have today

हामी सँग आज भौतिकशास्त्रमा भएका समस्त सिद्धान्तहरुले

properly explain what is called normal matter --

सामान्य पदार्थलाई यथायोग्य सँग अन्वाख्यान गर्छ --

the stuff that we're all made of --

जुन सामग्रीले हामी बनेका छम् --

and that's four percent of the universe.

त्यो ब्रह्माण्डको चार प्रतिशत मात्रै हो ।

Astronomers and cosmologists and physicists think

खगोलज्ञहरु तथा ब्रह्माणडज्ञहरु तथा भौतिकज्ञहरु सोच्छन की

that there is something called dark matter in the universe,

की त्यहाँ ब्रह्माणडमा तमो पदार्थ नामक केहि छ

which makes up 23 percent of the universe,

जस्ले ब्रह्माण्डको २३ प्रतिशत बनाँउछ,

and something called dark energy,

र केहि जस्को नाम तमो ऊर्जा हो,

which permeates the fabric of space-time,

जो दिक्-कालको वस्त्रमा विस्तारित हुन्छ,

that makes up another 73 percent.

जस्ले अर्को ७३ प्रतिशत बनाँउछ।

So if you look at this pie chart, 96 percent of the universe,

त्यसैले, यदि तपाँइँ यो वृत्तखण्ड रेखाचित्रमा हर्नुभयो भने, ९६ प्रतिशत ब्रह्माण्ड,

at this point in our exploration of it,

यो अन्वेषणकालमा हाम्रा निम्ति,

is unknown or not well understood.

अज्ञात छ अथवा हामी बुझेकै छैनौँ।

And most of the experiments, telescopes that I went to see

र अधिकतम प्रयोगहरुमा, मैले जुन दूरदर्शक हेर्न गएँ

are in some way addressing this question,

तीनीहरुले कुनै रूपमा यो प्रश्न सम्बोधन गर्दै छन्,

these two twin mysteries of dark matter and dark energy.

यी द्वि रहस्यहरु, तमो पदार्थ तथा तमो ऊर्जाको।

I will take you first to an underground mine

म प्रथम त तपाँइँहरुलाई एक भूमिगत खानिमा

in Northern Minnesota

उत्तरी मिनेसोटा (संयुक्त राज्य अमेरिकाको उत्तरी केन्द्रीय राज्य) मा

where people are looking

जनहरु हर्दैछन्

for something called dark matter.

तमो पदार्थ नामक केहि तत्त्व।

And the idea here is that they are looking for a sign

र युक्ति यहाँ के भन्दा, सङ्केतहरु अन्वेषण गरिदैँछ

of a dark matter particle hitting one of their detectors.

की तमो पदार्थ कणले यिनीहरुको संसूचकमा दिएको ठक्करको सङ्केत।

And the reason why they have to go underground

भूमिगत हुनुपर्ने कारणमा

is that, if you did this experiment on the surface of the Earth,

चाँहि, यदि तपाँइँले यो प्रयोग भूमण्डलको सतहमा गर्नुभयो भने

the same experiment would be swamped by signals

त्यहि प्रयोग सङ्केतहरुले आप्लावित हुनेछ

that could be created by things like cosmic rays,

जसको कारण ब्रह्माण्डीय किरण हिन्छन्,

ambient radio activity,

व्यापक विकिरण सक्रियता,

even our own bodies. You might not believe it,

र हाम्रै शरीर पनि। तपाँइँलाइ विश्वास न लाग्गला,

but even our own bodies are radioactive enough to disturb this experiment.

तर हाम्रै देह पनि यो प्रयोगलाइ भङ्ग गर्न यथेष्ट विकिरणसक्रिय छ।

So they go deep inside mines

त्यसैले तिनीहरु गभीर खानिहरु भित्र जान्छन्

to find a kind of environmental silence

प्राप्त गर्न त्यस्तो वातावरणीय शान्ति

that will allow them to hear

जस्ले तीनलाइ सुन्न दिन्छ

the ping of a dark matter particle hitting their detector.

तमो पदार्थले तिनको संसूचकमा गरेको त्यो सानो ठक्कर।

And I went to see one of these experiments,

अनि म यी प्रयोगहरु हेर्न गएँ,

and this is actually -- you can barely see it,

तथा सत्यता के हो भने-- तपाँइँले केवल केहि मात्र देख्न सक्नुहुन्छ,

and the reason for that is it's entirely dark in there --

र सत्यता के हो भने-- तपाँइँले केवल अलि अलि मात्र देख्न सक्नुहुन्छ,

this is a cavern that was left behind by the miners

यो एक गुहा(गुफा) हो जुन आखनिकहरुले छोडेका थिए

who left this mine in 1960.

उनीहरुले यो खानि सन् १९६० मा छोडेका हुन् ।

And physicists came and started using it

अनि भौतिकशास्रीहरुले आए र प्रयोग प्रारम्भ गरेँ

sometime in the 1980s.

१९८०को दशकको कुनै कालमा।

And the miners in the early part of the last century

एवं गएको शताब्दीको प्राथमिक कालमा आखनिकहरु

worked, literally, in candlelight.

यहाँ कर्म गर्दा स्वरुपतया नै मैनबत्तीमा काम गर्थे ।

And today, you would see this inside the mine,

र आज, तपाँइँ देख्नु हुन्छ यस्तो, खानि भित्र,

half a mile underground.

आधि माइल भूमि भित्र।

This is one of the largest underground labs in the world.

यो संसारकै बृहत्तम भूमिगत प्रयोगशाला हो ।

And, among other things, they're looking for dark matter.

र, धेरै कुरा मध्ये, यिनीहुर तमो पदार्थको अन्वेषण गर्दै छन् ।

There is another way to search for dark matter,

तमो पदार्थलाइ अन्वेषण गर्ने अन्य मार्ग पनि छ,

which is indirectly.

परोक्ष रूपले,

If dark matter exists in our universe,

यदि हाम्रो ब्रह्माण्डमा तमो पदार्थ छन् भने,

in our galaxy,

हाम्रो तारापुञ्जमा,

then these particles should be smashing together

यी पदार्थहरु एकत्र चूर्णीत भएर,

and producing other particles that we know about --

अरु हामिलाई जानकारी भएको पदार्थ उत्पादन गर्नुपर्छ --

one of them being neutrinos.

ती मध्येको एक हुन क्लीवाणुकहरु ।

And neutrinos you can detect

अनि क्लीवाणुकहरु चाँहि पता लगाउँने

by the signature they leave

तिनीहरुले छोडेको स्वसङ्केतको द्वारा हो

when they hit water molecules.

जब तिनीहरुले जलाणुमा ठक्कर दिन्छन् ।

When a neutrino hits a water molecule

जब एक क्लीवाणुले एक जलाणुलाई ठक्कर दिन्छ

it emits a kind of blue light,

तब एक प्रकारको नील प्रकाशको उत्सर्जन हुन्छ,

a flash of blue light,

नीलवर्ण प्रकाशको एक दीप्ति,

and by looking for this blue light,

र यही नील प्रकाश हेरेर,

you can essentially understand something about the neutrino

हामी बुझ्न सक्छौँ मूलतः क्लीवाणुहरुको विषयमा केहि

and then, indirectly, something about the dark matter

अनि, परोक्षरूपमा तमो पदार्थको विषयमा पनि केहि

that might have created this neutrino.

जस्ले क्वीवाणु उत्पादन गरेको हुनसक्छ।

But you need very, very large volumes of water

परन्तु, अति अति बृहत् परिमाणमा पानी चाँहिन्छ

in order to do this.

यो गर्नाका निमित्त ।

You need something like tens of megatons of water --

दशौ मेगाटन् जल --

almost a gigaton of water --

लग्भग गिगाटन् जस्ति जल--

in order to have any chance of catching this neutrino.

क्लीवाणु भेट्ने सम्भावनाका निम्ति ।

And where in the world would you find such water?

अनि संसारमा कहाँ तेती पानी पाइन्छ त ?

Well the Russians have a tank in their own backyard.

शुभम्, रूसीहरु सँग तेस्तो टङ्की त पछाडि आँगन् मै छ ।

This is Lake Baikal.

त्यो हो जलाशय बाइकाल ।

It is the largest lake in the world. It's 800 km long.

संसारको बृहत्तम ताल हो यो । ८०० किलोमिटर् लामो ।

It's about 40 to 50 km wide

४० देखि ५० किलोमिटर् चौडाई भएको

in most places,

अधिकतम स्थानहरुमा,

and one to two kilometers deep.

एक देखि द्वि किलोमिटर् गभीर ।

And what the Russians are doing

अनि रूसीहरुले के गर्दै छन् भने

is they're building these detectors

तिनीहरुले यी संसूचकहरु निर्माण गर्दै छन्

and immersing them about a kilometer beneath the surface of the lake

र जलाशयको सतह भन्दा एक किलोमिटर् जति तल, डुबाउँदै छन् ती संसूचकहरुलाई

so that they can watch for these flashes of blue light.

यस प्रयोजनले की तीनले ती नील प्रकाश दीप्तिहरु हेर्न सकुन ।

And this is the scene that greeted me when I landed there.

एवं यो चाँहि त्यो दृश्य यो जसले मलाई त्यहाँ स्वागत् गर्यो जब म त्यहाँ पुगेँ ।

This is Lake Baikal

त्यो हो बाइकाल ताल

in the peak of the Siberian winter.

साइबेरियाली शीतकालको शिखरमा ।

The lake is entirely frozen.

यो जलाशय सम्पूर्णै जमेको छ ।

And the line of black dots

र त्यो कालो रेखाका बिन्दुहरु

that you see in the background,

जुन तपाँइँ पृष्ठभूमिमा देख्न सक्नुहुन्छ,

that's the ice camp where the physicists are working.

त्यो हिम्शिविर हुन् जाँहाँ भौतिकशास्री कर्म गर्दै छन् ।

The reason why they have to work in winter

शीतकालमै चाँहि किन काम गर्न पर्यो भन्दा

is because they don't have the money to work in summer and spring,

किनकी तिनीहरु सँग ग्रीष्मकाल तथा वसन्त ऋतु मा कर्म गर्ने पैसा छैन,

which, if they did that,

जुन, यदि तिनले गर्ने हो भने,

they would need ships and submersibles to do their work.

तिनीहरुलाइ तिनको कर्म गर्न जलयान तथा अन्तःसागरीयानको आवश्यक पर्छ ।

So they wait until winter --

त्यसैले तिनीहरु शीतकाल सम्म प्रतीक्षा गर्छन् --

the lake is completely frozen over --

जब जलाशय सम्पूर्णरूपे जमेको हुन्छ --

and they use this meter-thick ice

र तिनीहरुले यहि एक मिटर् बाक्लो हिम् को प्रयोग गर्छन्

as a platform on which to establish their ice camp and do their work.

मञ्चको रूपमा जाँहाँ तिनीहरु आफ्नो शिविर स्थापित गर्छन् एवं स्वकर्म ।

So this is the Russians working on the ice

अतएव, यी रूसीहरुले हिम्‌मा काम गर्दै छन्

in the peak of the Siberian winter.

साइबेरियाली शीतकालको शिखरमा ।

They have to drill holes in the ice,

तिनीहरुलाई हिम्‌मा विवर छिद्रण गर्नु पर्छ,

dive down into the water -- cold, cold water --

अनि पानी भित्र डुबेर -- चिसो, शीत जल --

to get hold of the instrument, bring it up,

उपकरणको प्राप्त गर्न, माथी ल्याउँन,

do any repairs and maintenance that they need to do,

अनि पुनरूद्धार तथा रक्षण गर्न, जुन तिनीहरुले गर्नुपर्छ,

put it back and get out before the ice melts.

पुनः स्व स्थानमा राख्न र बाहिर आँउन हिम् पग्लीनु पूर्व ।

Because that phase of solid ice lasts for two months

किनकी त्यो ठोस हिम्‌को चरण द्विमास रहन्छ

and it's full of cracks.

र चिराहरुले पूर्ण हुन्छ ।

And you have to imagine, there's an entire sea-like lake

एवं तपाँइँले कल्पना गर्न सक्नुहुन्छ होला, त्याँहाँ एक समुद्र-समान जलाशय

underneath, moving.

तल चलन गर्दै छ ।

I still don't understand this one Russian man

म अझै पनि बुझ्न सक्दीन यो रूसी पुरूष

working in his bare chest,

नग्न छाती लिएर कर्म गर्दै छ,

but that tells you how hard he was working.

किन्तु यसले यो व्यक्ति कति कठिन कर्म गर्दैछ भनेर जनाउँछ ।

And these people, a handful of people,

र यी व्यक्तिहरु, अल्पसङ्ख्यक व्यक्तिहरु

have been working for 20 years,

२० वर्ष देखि काम गर्दैछन्,

looking for particles that may or may not exist.

अन्वेषण गर्दैछन् ती कणहरुको जस्को अस्तित्व सुनिश्चित छैन ।

And they have dedicated their lives to it.

र तिनीहरुले आफ्नो जीवन यो कर्मका निमित्त समर्पित गर्छन ।

And just to give you an idea,

तपाँइँलाइ एउटा चित्रण प्रस्तुत गर्न,

they have spent 20 million over 20 years.

तिनीहरुले २० मिलियन २० वर्ष भन्दा बढि ।

It's very harsh conditions.

यो अत्यन्तै कठोर अवस्था हो ।

They work on a shoestring budget.

तीनीहरु अपर्याप्त आयव्ययकमा कर्म गर्छन् ।

The toilets there are literally holes in the ground

यिनीहरुको शौचालय भनेकै भूमिमा भएको यो छिद्र हो

covered with a wooden shack.

ढाकिएको छ एक काष्ठनिर्मित प्रकोष्ठले ।

And it's that basic,

अनि त्यो त प्राथमिक,

but they do this every year.

परन्तु तिनीहरु यो प्रति वर्ष गर्छन् ।

From Siberia to the Atacama Desert in Chile,

साइबेरिया देखि

to see something called The Very Large Telescope.

हेर्न ती अति विशाल दूरदर्शक नामक उपकरणहरु ।

The Very Large Telescope

अति विशाल दूरदर्शक

is one of these things that astronomers do --

यी यस्तो सामग्रीलाई खगोलज्ञहरु--

they name their telescopes rather unimaginatively.

नामाकरण गर्दा अलि कल्पनाशीलता अभाव प्रदर्शन गर्छन् ।

I can tell you for a fact,

म एक सत्य भन्न सक्छु,

that the next one that they're planning is called The Extremely Large Telescope.

अर्को त्यो उपकरणको नाम बृहत् विशाल दूरदर्शक हुनेछ ।

(Laughter)

(हास्य)

And you wouldn't believe it,

अनि तपाँइँले विश्वास गर्नुहुन्नहोला,

but the one after that is going to be called The Overwhelmingly Large Telescope.

तर यीनले अर्को को नाम चरम बृहत् विशाल दूरदर्शक राख्नेछन् ।

But nonetheless,

अपितु,

it's an extraordinary piece of engineering.

यो अभियान्त्रिकीको असाधारण रचना हो ।

These are four 8.2 meter telescopes.

यी चार ८.२ मिटर् दूरदर्शक हुन् ।

And these telescopes, among other things,

अनि दूरदर्शकहरु, अरु विभिन्न कुरा मध्ये,

they're being used to study

प्रयोग गरिदैछ अध्ययनका निमित्त

how the expansion of the universe is changing with time.

की कसरी ब्रह्ममाण्डको विस्तारीता समयानुसार परिवर्तन हुदैछ ।

And the more you understand that,

अनि जति धेरै बुझ्यो,

the better you would understand

त्यति नै धेरै बुझिन्छ

what this dark energy that the universe is made of is all about.

की के हो तमो ऊर्जा -- जसबाट ब्रह्माण्ड बनेको छ -- आखिर के रहेछ त ।

And one piece of engineering that I want to leave you with

अनि एक अभियान्त्रिकीको उपकरण जससँग म तपाँइँहरुलाई छोड्न चाँहान्छु

as regards this telescope

यो दूरदर्शक सम्बन्धि

is the mirror.

चाँहि दर्पण हो ।

Each mirror, there are four of them,

प्रत्येक दर्पण, त्याँहाँ चार वटा छन्,

is made of a single piece of glass,

काचका एकै रचनांशले बनेका हुन्,

a monolithic piece of high-tech ceramic,

एक उच्च प्रौद्योगि मृत्तिकाको एकीकृत रचनांश,

that has been ground down and polished to such accuracy

जुनलाई चाँहि घोटेर तथा प्रमार्जक यस्तो परिशुद्धता प्राप्त

that the only way to understand what that is

गरिन्छ की यो बुझ्न

is [to] imagine a city like Paris,

उदाहरणका लागि पेरिस जस्तो नगरको लाई कल्पना गरौँ,

with all its buildings and the Eiffel Tower,

जाँहाँ त्यसका सम्पूर्ण भवन तथा आईफेल अट्ट,

if you grind down Paris to that kind of accuracy,

यदि तपाँइँ पेरिस नगरलाई यसरी घोट्नु भयो की परिशुद्धता,

you would be left with bumps that are one millimeter high.

यस्तो भयो की एक मिलिमिटर् उच्च पाहाड मात्र रहने छ ।

And that's the kind of polishing that these mirrors have endured.

त्यस्तो प्रकारको प्रमार्जक खेपेका हुन्छन् यी दर्पणहरु ले ।

An extraordinary set of telescopes.

एक असाधारण दूरदर्शकको समुच्चय,

Here's another view of the same.

याँहाँ छ अर्को दर्शन त्यहिको,

The reason why you have to build these telescopes

यी दूरदर्शकहरु निर्माण गर्नुको कारण

in places like the Atacama Desert

कारण की यस्ता स्थान जस्तै आटाकामा मरुभूमि

is because of the high altitude desert.

किनकी यो उच्च तुङ्गता मरुभूमि हो ।

The dry air is really good for telescopes,

त्याँहाँको शुष्क वायु दूरदर्शका लागि अत्यन्तै राम्रो हुन्छ,

and also, the cloud cover is below the summit of these mountains

अपितु, मेघावरण पनि पर्वत शिखर भन्दा तल हुन्छ

so that the telescopes have

जस्ले गर्दा दूरदर्शकलाई

about 300 days of clear skies.

लग्भग् ३०० दिन जति स्पष्ट आकाश प्राप्त गर्छन् ।

Finally, I want to take you to Antarctica.

परिशेषे, म तपाँइँहरुलाई अण्टार्क्टिका(पृथ्वीको दक्षिणतम महाद्वीप) मा लान चाँहाँन्छु ।

I want to spend most of my time on this part of the world.

म मेरो अधिक समय भूमण्डको यो भागमा विताउँन चाँहाँन्छु ।

This is cosmology's final frontier.

यो ब्रह्ममाण्डको सीमान्त हो ।

Some of the most amazing experiments,

केहि अधिकतम अद्भुत प्रयोगहरु,

some of the most extreme experiments,

केहि अधिकतम चरम प्रयोगहरु,

are being done in Antarctica.

अण्टार्क्टिकामा गरिदै छ ।

I was there to view something called a long-duration balloon flight,

दीर्घावधि वायुकुम्भ(बेलुन्)को अपगम(उडान) हेर्न म त्याँहाँ पुगेको थिएँ,

which basically takes telescopes and instruments

जसले मूलतः दूरदर्शक एवं उपकरणहरुलाई

all the way to the upper atmosphere,

उच्चतर वायुमण्डल सम्म,

the upper stratosphere, 40 km up.

उच्चतर समतापमण्डल, ४० किलोमिटर् माथि लैजान्छ ।

And that's where they do their experiments,

अनि त्याँहाँ जाँहाँ तिनीहरुले आफ्नो प्रयोगहरु गर्ने भनेको,

and then the balloon, the payload, is brought down.

अनि त्यसपछि त्यो वायुकुम्भ, नीतभारलाई तल ल्याईन्छ ।

So this is us landing on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.

र यो हामि हौँ अण्टार्क्टिकाको रस् नामक हिम् मञ्चमा ।

That's an American C-17 cargo plane

त्यो एक अमेरिकी सी-१७ नामक प्रभार विमान हो

that flew us from New Zealand

जस्ले हामिलाई न्यूजील्याण्ड्देशबाट

to McMurdo in Antarctica.

अण्टार्क्टिकाको म्याक्मर्डोमा ल्याई पुर्यायो ।

And here we are about to board our bus.

अब हामि बस् चढ्न लाग्दैछौँ ।

And I don't know if you can read the lettering,

र मलाई थाहा छैन यदि तपाँइँ अक्षर पढ्न सक्नुहुन्छ वा हुन्न,

but it says, "Ivan the Terribus."

तर के लेखियो छ भने, "इवान, भयानक बस् ।"

And that's taking us to McMurdo.

अनि यस्ले हामीलाई म्याक्मर्डो पुर्याउँने छ ।

And this is the scene that greets you in McMurdo.

एवं यो त्यो दृश्य हो जस्ले तपाँइँलाई म्याक्मोर्डोमा स्वागत् गर्नेछ ।

And you barely might be able to make out

अनि तपाँइँले त्याँहाँ त्यो गाह्रो गरि देख्नुभएको

this hut here.

चाँहि कुटी हो ।

This hut was built by Robert Falcon Scott and his men

कुटी जुन रोबर्ट् फाल्कन् स्कट् र उनका व्यक्तिहरुले निर्माण गरेको

when they first came to Antarctica

जब तिनीहरु प्रथम पटक अण्टार्क्टिका आएका थिए

on their first expedition to go to the South Pole.

तिनीहरुको प्रथम दक्षिण ध्रुव अभियानका लागि ।

Because it's so cold,

याँहाँ यति शीत(चिसो) छ कि,

the entire contents of that hut is still as they left it,

कुटीका सम्पूर्ण सामाग्रीहरु जस्तो छोडेको त्यस्तै छन्,

with the remnants of the last meal they cooked still there.

यति सम्म की तिनीहरुले पकाएको खानाको अवशेष अझै त्याँहाँ छ ।

It's an extraordinary place.

यो असाधारण स्थान हो ।

This is McMurdo itself. About a thousand people work here in summer,

म्याक्मोर्डो नै यहि हो । याँहाँ ग्रीष्मकामला अनुमानित हजार जन कर्म गर्छन्,

and about 200 in winter

र अनुमाति २०० शीतकालमा

when it's completely dark for six months.

जब याँहाँ सम्पूर्णै अन्धकारमय हुन्छ, छ मासको लागि ।

I was here to see the launch

म याँहाँ आरम्भको लाई थिएँ

of this particular type of instrument.

एक यस्तै विशेष उपकरणको ।

This is a cosmic ray experiment

यो एक अन्तरिक्ष किरण प्रयोग हो

that has been launched all the way to the upper-stratosphere

जुन उच्चतर समतापमण्डलमा आरम्भ गरियो

to an altitude of 40 km.

४० किलोमिटर्को तुङ्गतामा ।

What I want you to imagine is this is two tons in weight.

म तपाँइँलाई के कल्पना गराउँन चाँहान्छु भने यो द्वि टन् भारको छ ।

So you're using a balloon

अनि तपाँइँले एक वायुकुम्भ प्रयोग गर्दैहुनुहुन्छ

to carry something that is two tons

द्वि सय किलोको भार बोक्न

all the way to an altitude of 40 km.

त्यो पनि ४० किलोमिटर्को तुङ्गता (उच्चाई) सम्म ।

And the engineers, the technicians, the physicists

एवं अभियन्त्रकहरु, प्रविधिज्ञहरु, भौतिकज्ञहरुले

have all got to assemble on the Ross Ice Shelf,

रस् हिम् मञ्चमा नै समुच्चयन गर्नु पर्छ,

because Antarctica -- I won't go into the reasons why --

किनकी यो अण्टार्क्टिका -- म कारण सम्म जान्न किन --

but it's one of the most favorable places for doing these balloon launches,

तर यो वायुकुम्भ प्रारम्भ गर्ने अधितम अनुकूल स्थान हो,

except for the weather.

अपक्षयण(मौसम्) बाहेक ।

The weather, as you can imagine,

अपक्षयण, तपाँइँ कल्पना गर्न सक्नुहुन्छ,

this is summer, and you're standing on 200 ft of ice.

यो ग्रीष्म हो र तपाँइँ २०० फिट्को हिम्‌मा उभ्भिनु भइरहेहो छ ।

And there's a volcano behind,

अनि पछाडि छ ज्वालामुखी,

which has glaciers at the very top.

जस्को अति शिखरमा हिमनदिहरु छन् ।

And what they have to do

अनि हामीगर्नु पर्ने हे हो भन्दा

is they have to assemble the entire balloon --

त्यो कुल वायुकुम्भलाई समुच्चयन गर्ने --

the fabric, parachute and everything -- on the ice

वस्त्र, अवतरण छत्र तथा सर्वसामाग्री -- हिम् मा

and then fill it up with helium.

र त्यसमा हीलियम् भर्ने ।

And that process takes about two hours.

यो प्रक्रियालाई अनुमानित द्वि घण्टा लग्छ ।

And the weather can change as they're putting together this whole assembly.

र अपक्षयण कुनै बेला पनि हामीले समुच्चयन गर्दा गर्दै परिवर्तन हुनसक्छ ।

For instance, here they are laying down the balloon fabric behind,

उदाहरणस्वरूप, याँहाँ तिनीहरु वायुकुम्भको वस्त्र तल राख्दै छन्,

which is eventually going to be filled up with helium.

जस्मा अन्ततः हीलियम् भरिने छ ।

Those two trucks you see at the very end

ति द्वि ट्रकहरु जुन तपाँइँ अति अन्तमा देख्दैहुनुहुन्छ

carry 12 tanks each of compressed helium.

तिनीहरुमध्ये एक एकैले १२ टङ्की सम्पीडित हीलियम् बोक्छन् ।

Now, in case the weather changes before the launch,

अब, यदि प्रारम्भ पूर्व अपक्षयण परिवर्तन भयो भने,

they have to actually pack everything back up into their boxes

तिनीहरुले साँच्चैनै सम्पूर्ण सामाग्रीहरु आफ्नो भाण्डहरुमा राख्नु पर्ने छ

and take it out back to McMurdo Station.

र म्याक्मोर्डो प्रेक्षणस्थलमा लानुपर्ने छ ।

And this particular balloon,

यो विशेष वायुकुम्भ,

because it has to launch two tons of weight,

किनकी यस्ले द्वि टन् भार प्रमोचन गर्नुपर्छ

is an extremely huge balloon.

एक विशाल वायुकुम्भ हो ।

The fabric alone weighs two tons.

यो वस्त्रमात्रै भारमा द्वि टन् छ ।

In order to minimize the weight,

भार घटाउँनका निम्ति,

it's very thin, it's as thin as a sandwich wrapper.

यो यति अतिकृश हुन्छ की खाना भेर्ने आवेष्टन जति कृश ।

And if they have to pack it back,

र तिनीहरुले त्यस्लाई पुनः सवेष्‍टन गर्नुपर्नेछ ।

they have to put it into boxes

अनि भाण्डमा राख्नुपर्नेछ ।

and stamp on it so that it fits into the box again --

अनि भाण्ड भित्र अटोस् भन्ने हेतुले त्यस माथि सम्पीडिन गर्नपर्नेछ --

except, when they did it first,

अपवाद के छ भने, तिनीहरुले प्रथम पटक गर्दा,

it would have been done in Texas.

टेक्सस् राज्यमा गरेकाहुन्थे ।

Here, they can't do it with the kind shoes they're wearing,

याँहाँ, तिनीहरुले जुन प्रकारको जुत्तालाएका छन् त्यसले त्यो गर्न मिल्दैन,

so they have to take their shoes off,

त्यसैले तिनीहरुले आफ्नो जुत्ता फुकाल्नु पर्छ,

get barefoot into the boxes, in this cold,

र भाण्डलाई नाङ्गो खुट्टाले थिच्चनुपर्छ यो शीतकालमा

and do that kind of work.

र त्यस्तो कर्म गर्छन् ।

That's the kind of dedication these people have.

त्यस्तो निष्ठा छ यी व्यक्तिहरुमा ।

Here's the balloon being filled up with helium,

याँहाँ वायुकुम्भ हीलियम् ले भरिँदैछ,

and you can see it's a gorgeous sight.

र तपाँइँ देख्न सक्नु हुन्छ यो भव्य दृश्य छ ।

Here's a scene

याँहाँ छ त्यो दृश्य

that shows you the balloon and the payload end-to-end.

जब वायुकुम्भ तथा भारयोग शेष-सरासरि छन् ।

So the balloon is being filled up with helium on the left-hand side,

अनि त्यो वायुकुम्भ वाम्-हस्त पक्षमा हीलियम्ले भरिदै छ,

and the fabric actually runs all the way to the middle

र त्यो वस्त्र साँच्चैनै मध्य भाग सम्म पुग्छ

where there's a piece of electronics and explosives

जाँहाँ वैद्युतुपकरणहरु तथा विस्फोटकहरु

being connected to a parachute,

अवतरण छत्रमा जोडिदै छन्,

and then the parachute is then connected to the payload.

तथा त्यो अवतरण-छत्र चाँहि भारयोगमा जोडिन्छ ।

And remember, all this wiring is being done

अनि स्मरण रहोस्, यो सम्पूर्णै तार स्थापन गरिदैछ

by people in extreme cold, in sub-zero temperatures.

त्यस्तो चरम शीतमा उपशून्य तापमानमा, ती व्यक्तिहरुबाट ।

They're wearing about 15 kg of clothing and stuff,

तिनीहरु आफै १५ किलो भारको परिधान लगाएका छन्,

but they have to take their gloves off in order to do that.

तर तिनीहरुलाई आफ्नो पञ्जा फुकालेर कर्म गर्नुपर्छ ।

And I would like to share with you a launch.

र म तपाँइँहरु सँग एक प्रारम्भन बाँड्न चाहान्छु,

(Video) Radio: Okay, release the balloon,

(चलदृश्ये) दूरश्रवण- हुन्छ, वायुकुम्भ मुक्त गर,

release the balloon, release the balloon.

कुम्भ मुक्त गर, कुम्भ मुक्त गर ।

Anil Ananthaswamy: And I'll finally like to leave you with two images.

अनिल अनाथस्वामि- परिशेषे म तपाँइँहरुलाई द्वि चित्रसँगै छोड्न चाहान्छु ।

This is an observatory in the Himalayas, in Ladakh in India.

यो भारतको लदाक् हिमाली क्षेत्रास्वथित एक वेधशाला हो ।

And the thing I want you to look at here

अनि एउटा कुरा म तपाँइँले हर्नुहोला

is the telescope on the right-hand side.

की याँहाँ वामेतर हस्त पक्षमा एक दूरदर्शक ।

And on the far left there

तथा दूर वामे त्याँहाँ

is a 400 year-old Buddhist monastery.

एक ४०० वर्ष प्राचीन बौद्ध विहार छ ।

This is a close-up of the Buddhist monastery.

बौद्ध विहारको समीप दृश्‍य हो यो ।

And I was struck by the juxtaposition

म विस्मित भएँ यो सन्निधि देखेर

of these two enormous disciplines that humanity has.

सन्निधि ती मानवतासँग भएकस द्वि प्रकाण्ड विद्याहरु देखेर ।

One is exploring the cosmos on the outside,

एकले बाह्य विश्वब्रह्माण्ड समन्वेषण गर्दै छ,

and the other one is exploring our interior being.

एवं अर्कोले हाम्रो भित्री स्वयमस्तित्व समन्वेषण गर्दै छ ।

And both require silence of some sort.

र दुवैलाई आवश्यक छ शान्ति कुनै प्रकारको भए नी ।

And what struck me was

अनि के ले विस्मित पार्यो भन्दा

every place that I went to to see these telescopes,

प्रत्येक स्थानहरु जाँहाँ म दूरदर्शकादि उपकरण हेर्न गएँ,

the astronomers and cosmologists

खगोलज्ञहरु तथा ब्रह्माणडज्ञहरु

are in search of a certain kind of silence,

विशेष प्रकारको शान्ति अवेक्षण गर्छन्,

whether it's silence from radio pollution

चाहे त्यो विकिरण प्रदूषणबाट शान्ति नै किन नहोस्,

or light pollution or whatever.

वा प्रकाश प्रदूषण बाट अथवा आदि जे भए पनि,

And it was very obvious

सुस्पष्ट के छ भने

that, if we destroy these silent places on Earth,

यदि हामीले यी शान्ति क्षेत्रहरु नाश गर्यौँ भने,

we will be stuck on a planet without the ability to look outwards,

हामी यस्तो ग्रहमा रहनेछौँ जाँहाँ हामीसँग बाह्यिक पक्ष हेर्ने क्षमता रहने छैन,

because we will not be able to understand the signals that come from outer space.

किनकी हामीले बाह्य अन्तरिक्षबाट आएका सङ्केतहरु बुझ्न सक्नेछैनौँ ।

Thank you.

धन्यवाद ।

(Applause)

तालीहरु