Lessons from a solar storm chaser | Miho Janvier

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Adrienne Lin

It is almost the end of the winter,

冬天快要結束了，

and you've woken up to a cold house,

你在一間很冷的房子裡醒來，

which is weird, because you left the heater on all night.

這很奇怪，因為你整晚都有開暖氣。

You turn on the light.

你把燈打開。

It's not working.

它卻沒反應。

Actually, the coffee maker, the TV -- none of them are working.

其實，咖啡機、電視全都沒反應。

Life outside also seems to have stopped.

外面的生活似乎也停止下來了。

There are no schools,

沒有學生上學，

most of the businesses are shut,

大部份的商店都沒開，

and there are no working trains.

也沒有火車在跑。

This is not the opening scene of a zombie apocalypse movie.

這並不是殭屍世界末日電影的開場。

This is what happened in March 1989 in the Canadian province of Quebec,

這是 1989 年 3 月在 加拿大魁北克省發生的事，

when the power grid lost power.

電力網失去了電力。

The culprit?

肇事者是誰？

A solar storm.

太陽風暴。

Solar storms are giant clouds of particles

太陽風暴是種巨型雲，

escaping from the Sun from time to time,

由偶爾逃離太陽的粒子形成，

and a constant reminder that we live in the neighborhood of an active star.

它常常提醒我們， 我們住在活躍天體的附近。

And I, as a solar physicist,

我是太陽物理學家，

I have a tremendous chance to study these solar storms.

我有很棒的機會可以 研究這些太陽風暴。

But you see, "solar storm chaser"

但，「太陽風暴追逐者」

is not just a cool title.

實在不是個酷頭銜。

My research helps to understand where they come from,

我的研究是在協助 了解它們從何而來、

how they behave

它們的行為是什麼，

and, in the long run,

以及長期目標

aims to mitigate their effects on human societies,

是要減輕它們對人類社會的影響，

which I'll get to in a second.

我等下就會談到這點。

At the beginning of the space exploration age 50 years ago only,

在太空探險時代剛開始時， 大約才五十年前，

the probes we sent in space

我們送上太空的探測器

revealed that the planets in our Solar System

發現在我們太陽系中的星球

constantly bathe in a stream of particles that are coming from the Sun

經常會沉浸在來自 太陽的粒子流當中，

and that we call the solar wind.

這就是我們所稱的太陽風。

And in the same way that global wind patterns here on Earth

就像在地球上，全球的風模式會

can be affected by hurricanes,

受到颶風的影響一樣，

the solar wind is sometimes affected by solar storms

太陽風有時也會被太陽風暴影響，

that I like to call "space hurricanes."

我喜歡稱它為「太空颶風」。

When they arrive at planets,

當它們到達星球時，

they can perturb the space environment,

可能會擾亂太空環境，

which in turn creates the northern or southern lights,

接著就會創造出北極光和南極光，

for example, here on Earth,

比如，在地球這裡，

but also Saturn

在土星也有，

and also Jupiter.

還有木星。

Luckily, here on Earth,

幸運的是，在地球上，

we are protected by our planet's natural shield,

我們受到我們星球的 天然屏罩所保護，

a magnetic bubble that we call the magnetosphere

也就是被稱為磁氣圈的磁場泡泡，

and that you can see here on the right side.

可以在畫面的右手邊看到。

Nonetheless, solar storms can still be responsible

但，太陽風暴仍然會造成

for disrupting satellite telecommunications and operations,

衛星通信和運作的中斷、

for disrupting navigation systems, such as GPS,

如 GPS 的導航系統中斷，

as well as electric power transmission.

以及影響電力輸送。

All of these are technologies on which us humans rely more and more.

上述這些科技都是人類 越來越仰賴的科技。

I mean, imagine if you woke up tomorrow without a working cell phone --

想像一下，如果你明天早上起床， 發現手機不能用了－

no internet on it,

沒有網路連線，

which means no social media.

也就是說，沒有社交媒體。

I mean, to me that would be worse than the zombie apocalypse.

對我來說，那比殭屍世界末日還慘。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

By constantly monitoring the Sun, though,

不過，透過持續監控太陽，

we now know where the solar storms come from.

我們現在知道太陽風暴從何而來。

They come from regions of the Sun

它們來自太陽上

where a tremendous amount of energy is being stored.

儲存大量能量的區域。

You have an example here,

這裡有個例子，

as a complex structure hanging above the solar surface,

有個複雜的結構掛在太陽表面上，

just on the verge of erupting.

正在爆發邊緣。

Unfortunately, we cannot send probes

不幸的是，我們無法把探測器送到

in the scorching hot atmosphere of the Sun,

太陽的這種灼熱大氣當中，

where temperatures can rise up to around 10 million degrees Kelvin.

在這裡可以達到 絕對溫度 1000 萬度 K。

So what I do is I use computer simulations

所以，我的做法是用電腦模擬，

in order to analyze but also to predict the behavior of these storms

來分析和預測這些風暴的行為，

when they're just born at the Sun.

當它們剛在太陽上誕生就開始進行。

This is only one part of the story, though.

不過，這只是故事的一部份。

When these solar storms are moving in space,

當這些太陽風暴在太空中移動時，

some of them will inevitably encounter space probes

當中有些難免會遇到太空探測器，

that we humans have sent in order to explore other worlds.

我們人類送出去探索 其他世界的探測器。

What I mean by other worlds is, for example, planets,

我所謂的其他世界， 指的是比如其他星球，

such as Venus or Mercury,

像是金星或水星，

but also objects, such as comets.

還有物體，像是慧星。

And while these space probes have been made

雖然這些太空探測器

for different scientific endeavors,

是被設計來做不同的科學用途，

they can also act like tiny cosmic meteorological stations

它們也可以被當作 小型的宇宙氣象站，

and monitor the evolution of these space storms.

用來監控這些太空風暴的演化。

So I, with a group of researchers, gather and analyze this data

所以我和一群研究者一同分析

coming from different locations of the Solar System.

這些來自太陽系不同地點的資料。

And by doing so, my research shows that, actually,

這麼做之後，我的研究顯示，其實，

solar storms have a generic shape,

太陽風暴有個一般的形狀，

and that this shape evolves as solar storms move away from the Sun.

當太陽風暴遠離太陽之後， 形狀就會逐漸形成。

And you know what?

你們知道嗎？

This is key for building tools to predict space weather.

這就是打造太空天氣 預測工具的關鍵。

I would like to leave you with this beautiful image.

我把這張美麗的影像留給各位。

This is us here on Earth,

這就是我們的地球，

this pale blue dot.

這個淡藍色的圓點。

And while I study the Sun and its storms every day,

雖然我每天都在研究太陽和太陽風暴，

I will always have a deep love for this beautiful planet --

但我一直都深愛著這個美麗的星球，

的確，這是個淡藍色的圓點，

a pale blue dot indeed,

but a pale blue dot with an invisible magnetic shield

但這個淡藍色的圓點 有個隱形的磁場屏罩，

that helps to protect us.

能協助保護我們。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）