Jon Nguyen: Tour the solar system from home

翻译人员: Qiumeng Zhao 校对人员: Yuguo Zhang

As a kid, I was fascinated with all things air and space.

我还是孩子的时候，就着迷于航空航天的一切。

I would watch Nova on PBS.

我会看PBS电视台的太空节目Nova。

Our school would show Bill Nye the Science Guy.

我们学校也会放科教节目Bill Nye the Science Guy。

When I was in elementary school, my next door neighbor,

我在读小学的时候，我的隔壁邻居

he gave me a book for my birthday.

在我过生日的时候送了我一本书

It was an astronomy book,

这是一本天文学的书，

and I poured over that thing for hours on end,

接下来的数小时我都沉迷于此书之中

and it was a combination of all these things

这本书里讲了许许多多的事

that inspired me to pursue space exploration

都激励了我要投身于宇宙的探索

as my own personal dream, and part of that dream was,

并将它作为我的人生理想，这个理想中就包括了

I always wanted to just fly around the solar system

我想要在太阳系里遨游

and visit different planets and visit moons and spacecraft.

乘着太空船，造访各大行星、卫星

Well, a number of years later, I graduated from UCLA

许多年过去之后，我从加州大学洛杉矶分校毕业了

and I found myself at NASA,

然后开始为美国国家航空航天局NASA做事

working for the jet propulsion laboratory,

在其喷气推进实验室工作

and there our team was challenged

在那，我所在的团队接受了一项挑战

to create a 3D visualization of the solar system,

那就是制作太阳系的三维可视化模型

and today I want to show you what we've done so far.

今天，我想向大家展示目前我们的成果

Now, the kicker is, everything I'm about to do here

这当中最值得注意的就是：我接下来在这里做的一切

you can do at home, because we built this

你都可以在家里完成，因为我们的目的

for the public for you guys to use.

就是为了让大家，为了让你们都能够使用

So what you're looking at right now is the Earth.

现在你所看到的了就是地球

You can see the United States and California

这里是美国，这边了就是加州

and San Diego, and you can use the mouse

这儿是圣迭戈，你可以用鼠标

or the keyboard to spin things around.

或者键盘旋转整个画面

Now, this isn't new. Anyone who's used Google Earth

你现在看到的了并没啥新意。只要你用过谷歌地球

has seen this before, but one thing we like to say

你就肯定看过这些了，但是我想说的是

in our group is, we do the opposite of Google Earth.

我们的团队做的是与谷歌地球截然相反的事

Google Earth goes from this view down to your backyard.

谷歌地球是从地球然后缩放到你家后院

We go from this view out to the stars.

我们则是从地球延伸至星际

So the Earth is cool, but what we really want to show

能看地球固然不错，但是我们最想向大家展示的是

are the spacecraft,

航天器

so I'm going to bring the interface back up,

所以了，现在我将界面进行缩放

and now you're looking at a number of satellites

你看到的就是数量众多的人造卫星

orbiting the Earth.

正在绕着地球转

These are a number of our science space Earth orbiters.

这有我们许许多多的地球轨道飞行器

We haven't included military satellites and weather satellites

我们并没有收入军事卫星、气象卫星

and communication satellites and reconnaissance satellites.

通信卫星和侦察卫星也未包括在内

If we did, it would be a complete mess,

如果上述卫星都有的话，那就真的是一团乱麻了

because there's a lot of stuff out there.

因为各种卫星实在是太多了

And the cool thing is, we actually created 3D models

厉害的是，我们为这些数不清的航天器

for a number of these spacecraft, so if you want to visit

做出了三维模型，所以如果你想要

any of these, all you need to do is double-click on them.

观察这些航天器，只需双击它们即可

So I'm going to find the International Space Station,

我现在就来找找国际空间站

double-click, and it will take us all the way down to the ISS.

双击它，我们就来到了国际空间站

And now you're riding along with the ISS

现在我们就在跟随着国际空间站飞行

where it is right now.

并且这就是它此时此刻的实际位置

And the other cool thing is, not only can we

另外一件厉害的事了就是，我们不仅可以

move the camera around, we can also control time,

移动我们的视角，我们还可以控制时间

so I can slide this jog dial here

所以我只要滑动这里的时间轴

to shuttle time forward, and now

我就能够将时间往前调，现在我们看到的

we can see what a sunset on the ISS would look like,

就是国际空间站上的日落景象

and they get one every 90 minutes. (Laughter)

这样的景象每90分钟就会出现一次。（笑声）

All right, so what about the rest of it?

那好，其他的还有什么了？

Well, I can click on this home button over here,

我只要点击这里的主页按钮

and that will take us up to the inner solar system,

我们就会来到内太阳系的画面

and now we're looking at the rest of the solar system.

现在，我们看到的就是太阳系的其余部分

You can see, there's Saturn, there's Jupiter,

你看，这是土星，这是木星

and while we're here, I want to point out something.

既然我们到看到了这里，我还想多说几句

It's actually pretty busy.

其实这里了是非常热闹的。

Here we have the Mars Science Laboratory

这里有我们的火星科学实验室

on its way to Mars, just launched last weekend.

它上周末刚发射升空，正奔赴火星

Here we have Juno on its cruise to Jupiter, there.

这还有我们的朱诺号，正向木星飞去，就在这

We have Dawn orbiting Vesta,

还有绕着灶神星转的曙光号

and we have over here New Horizons

这边了还有我们的新地平线号

on a straight shot to Pluto.

直接飞奔向冥王星

And I mention this because

我之所以要说这些，是因为

there's this strange public perception that

公众中有这样一种很莫名其妙的说法

NASA's dead, that the space shuttles stopped flying

认为NASA已死，认为宇宙飞船不再翱翔太空

and all of the sudden there's no more spacecraft out there.

突然之间，宇宙之中已没了我们宇宙飞船的影子

Well, a lot of what NASA does is robotic exploration,

其实，NASA做的许多工作都是无人太空探索

and we have a lot of spacecraft out there.

我们的有着数量众多的太空飞行器翱翔在宇宙之中

Granted, we're not sending humans up at the moment,

当然，现阶段，我们并没有把宇航员送上太空

well at least with our own launch vehicles,

至少没有通过我们自己发射的飞行器将他们送上太空

but NASA is far from dead,

但是NASA已死纯属无稽之谈

and one of the reasons why we write a program like this

我们要编写这一程序的一个原因就是

is so that people realize that there's so many other things

让人们知道有许许多多的事

that we're doing.

我们正在为之努力

Anyway, while we're here, again,

总之就是这样，我想再说一次

if you want to visit anything,

只要你想亲自探索任何东西

all you need to do is double-click.

只需双击即可完成

So I'm just going to double-click on Vesta,

我现在就双击灶神星

and here we have Dawn orbiting Vesta,

这就是绕着灶神星转的曙光号

and this is happening right now.

大家看到的就是实时影像

I'm going to double-click on Uranus, and we can see

我接下来双击天王星，我们就能看到

Uranus rotating on its side along with its moons.

水平自转的天王星，以及它的卫星

You can see how it's tilted at about 89 degrees.

大家看，它的自转轴倾斜角度大概为89度

And just being able to visit different places

为了能让大家浏览各个不同的地方

and go through different times,

以及它们在不同时间的样子

we have data from 1950 to 2050.

我们搜集了1950年至2050年的数据

Granted, we don't have everything in between,

当然，我们不可能囊括这个时间段内的一切

because some of the data is hard to get.

因为有些数据很难获得

Just being able to visit places in different times,

单是探索不同时期的各个地方

you can explore this for hours,

你就能沉迷于其中好几个小时

literally hours on end,

毫不夸张，连续的几个小时

but I want to show you one thing in particular,

但是我还特别想向大家展示一样东西

so I'm going to open up the destination tab,

我现在打开“目的地”菜单

spacecraft outer planet missions, Voyager 1,

然后“航天器”，接着“外太阳系探索”，选择旅行者1号

and I'm going to bring up the Titan flyby.

我现我们就能看到它对土卫六的近距离观测

So now we've gone back in time.

我们再将时间往回调

We're now riding along with Voyager 1.

我们现在就是在和旅行者1号一同飞行

The date here is November 11, 1980.

画面显示的是1980年11月11号

Now, there's a funny thing going on here.

这个里面了有一个非常有意思的事

It doesn't look like anything's going on.

这个画面看上去好像是静止的一样

It looks like I've paused the program.

感觉就像是我摁了暂停键

It's actually running at real rate right now,

实际上，一切的物体都是以它们实际的速度在运动

one second per second, and in fact,

一秒接着一秒，并且实际上

Voyager 1 here is flying by Titan at

旅行者1号掠过土卫六的速度

I think it's 38,000 miles per hour.

我记得是3万8千英里每小时

It only looks like nothing's moving because, well,

看上去静止的原因是

Saturn here is 700,000 miles away,

土星大约有70万英里远

and Titan here is 4,000 to 5,000 miles away.

土卫六则有4千到5千英里远

It's just the vastness of space makes it look like nothing's happening.

其中相隔着的巨大空间使得一切都好似静止

But to make it more interesting,

还有一件更有意思的事

I'm going to speed up time, and we can watch

我现在把时间加速，我们可以看到

as Voyager 1 flies by Titan,

旅行者1号掠过土卫六

which is a hazy moon of Saturn.

土星的这个颗卫星蒙着一层面纱

It actually has a very thick atmosphere.

它的大气层相当的浓厚

And I'm going to recenter the camera on Saturn, here.

我现在把镜头重新聚焦到土星上

I'm going to pull out, and I want to show you

然后缩放画面，我想向大家展示的是

Voyager 1 as it flies by Saturn.

旅行者1号飞过土星的画面

There's a point to be made here.

这里有一点我需要说明

With a 3D visualization like this,

凭借这样的一个三维可视化程序

we can not only just say Voyager 1 flew by Saturn.

我们不仅可以简单地展示旅行者1号飞过土星

There's a whole story to tell here.

这里包括了这个过程的所有细节

And even better, because it's an interactive application,

甚至，因为这是一个互动式的程序

you can tell the story for yourself.

你可以随心所欲

If you want to pause it, you can pause it.

想暂停，就暂停

If you want to keep going, if you want to change

想继续，想改变镜头的角度

the camera angle, you can do that,

你都可以做到

and because of that, I can show you

这样一来，我可以告诉你

that Voyager 1 doesn't just fly by Saturn.

旅行者1号不仅仅是飞过土星那么简单

It actually flies underneath Saturn.

它实际上是从土星的下面飞过

Now, what happens is, as it flies underneath Saturn,

现在，随着旅行者1号从下方飞过土星

Saturn grabs it gravitationally and flings it up

进入土星的重力场后，旅行者1号受其引力被向上抛出

and out of the solar system,

离开了太阳系

so if I just keep letting this go,

所以如果我让画面继续

you can see Voyager 1 fly up like that.

你就可以看到旅行者1号的轨迹是这样的

And, in fact, I'm going to go back to the solar system.

接着了，让我们重新回到太阳系

I'm going to go back to today, now,

我把时间调回今天，此时此刻

and I want to show you where Voyager 1 is.

我想向大家展示旅行者1号现在在哪

Right there, above, way above the solar system,

就在这，太阳系的上方，遥远的上方

way beyond our solar system.

离太阳系很遥远了

And here's the thing. Now you know how it got there.

所以，现在你就知道了旅行者1号是怎么到达那里的

Now you know why, and to me,

你也知道了其中的奥妙，对于我来说

that's the point of this program.

这就是这个程序的意义所在

You can manipulate it yourself.

你可以自己操作

You can fly around yourself and you can learn for yourself.

你可以任意地遨游，然后自己学习新知

You know, the theme today is "The World In Your Grasp."

大家知道，今天的主题是“您掌中的世界”

Well, we're trying to give you

我们想要做的了就是

the solar system in your grasp — (Laughter) —

把太阳系至于你的掌控之中——（笑声）——

and we hope once it's there,

我们希望大家能利用这个程序

you'll be able to learn for yourself

学到点什么东西

what we've done out there, and what we're about to do.

能够了解我们做了些什么，我们即将要做些什么

And my personal dream is for kids to take this

我个人的梦想了，是希望孩子们能够利用它

and explore and see the wonders out there

发现和探索宇宙中的奥妙

and be inspired, as I was as a kid,

并能因此获得激励，就像我还是孩子的时候

to pursue STEM education

受到鼓舞投身于科学、技术、工程、数学之中

and to pursue a dream in space exploration.

投身于空间探索之中

Thank you. (Applause)

谢谢