So to look at how amazing this is, let’s take a look at the size of Dimorphos. How big is it, exactly?And how far away was it?[qh]
為了看看這次撞擊有多神奇,我們來看看“迪莫弗斯”的大小
So Dimorphos is about as big and heavy as the Great Pyramid. It’s also about as big as the Roman Colosseum.[qh]
“迪莫弗斯”與大金字塔一樣大,一樣重
Okay, that’s pretty big.[qh]
好吧,體積相當大
But for those of us steeped in modernity, I like just to say it's about twice the size of a standard football field, and it weighed an estimated 11 billion pounds.[qh]
不過,對于我們這些沉浸在現代生活中的人來說,我會說,“迪莫弗斯”大約是標準足球場的兩個大,其重量估計有110億磅
Whereas DART is just a 1,260-pound spacecraft—about the size and weight of a dairy cow. [qh]
而DART(航天器)只是一個1260磅的宇宙飛船——大約是一頭奶牛的大小和重量
The fact that DART made a dent at all really comes down to its high-velocity impact, which we already said was 14,000 miles per hour. [qh]
DART砸出的坑實際上是由其高速撞擊引起的,我們提到過,時速為每小時14000英里
And all this took place after a deep-space voyage to the impact point, more than seven million miles from Earth.[qh]
此前,一次深空航行駛向距離地球700多萬英里的撞擊點
So, that’s like a dairy cow smashing into a great pyramid?[qh]
這就像一頭奶牛撞進了一個大金字塔中?[qh]
Basically, it gets messy.[qh]
基本上,一片狼藉
Huh. Well, let’s get back to the science. [qh]
嗯
We know that getting more details is helping astronomers understand why this crash was so successful. [qh]
我們知道,獲得更多的細節可以幫助天文學家理解這次撞擊如此成功的原因
What are some of the new details around the impact that have been found? And what surprised scientists? What was NASA’s original goal here?[qh]
關于這次撞擊,我們發現了哪些新的細節? 是什么令科學家們感到驚訝?美國宇航局最初的目標是什么?[qh]
That’s a great question Tulika. And the answer was that the surprise was how well it worked. [qh]
這個問題問得好,圖利卡
NASA’s official criterion for success was shifting Dimorphos’s orbit by just 73 seconds.[qh]
美國宇航局的官方成功標準是將“迪莫弗斯”的軌道改變73秒
Initial predictions – if it was actually a billiard ball, for instance, all solid material – predictions were that maybe DART would nudge it off by about 7 minutes. Instead we got 33, 33 minutes![qh]
假設“迪莫弗斯”是一個臺球,那么它完全由固體物質組成,最初預測DART可能推動“迪莫弗斯”,使其快大約7分鐘
Yeah! And the difference is due to Dimorphos not being a billiard ball at all. [qh]
對! 造成這種差異是因為“迪莫弗斯”根本不是一個臺球
It's a loosely bound rubble pile as DART's final closing images showed. [qh]
正如DART的結束階段圖像所示,“迪莫弗斯”是由松散的碎石堆組成
So when DART slammed into it, it ejected a huge plume, a long tail of debris, containing more than 2 million pounds of stuff, which imparted recoil, basically, to Didymos. It's a bit like a kick from a shotgun.[qh]
因此,當DART撞擊“迪莫弗斯”時,它噴出了巨大的羽流,一長串碎石,包含了200多萬磅的物質,這基本上賦予了“迪迪莫斯”后坐力
Oh, wow. Well that really helps me visualize it a little bit more. [qh]
哦, 哇
So DART was this $330 million spaceship the size of a golf cart — and it was completely obliterated by this asteroid in a matter of mere microseconds. [qh]
DART是一艘價值3.3億美元的宇宙飛船、體積有高爾夫球車大小,它在短短幾微秒內就被這顆小行星完全摧毀了
Scientists seemed pretty confident that this was a smashing success — but what else would we need in order to ensure that any more dangerous asteroids headed for earth don’t obliterate us? [qh]
科學家們似乎很確信這是一次轟動性成功的嘗試,不過,我們還需要了解什么才能確保任何撞向地球的更危險的小行星不會摧毀我們呢?[qh]
Great question, Tulika. What we really need to have is better situational awareness. [qh]
問得好,圖利卡
How many of these objects are out there? What are they made of? Where are they?[qh]
外太空還有多少這樣的物體? 它們的組織結構是什么? 它們的位置在哪里?[qh]
And uh, who’s working on that now?[qh]
現在哪些人在研究這個?[qh]
Lots of different people.[qh]
很多不同的人
The key is to get a catalog of different sizes of objects, their different orbits, maybe even what they're made of and figure out which ones are the most threatening.[qh]
關鍵是要了解一系列不同大小、處在不同軌道、甚至不同組織結構的天體,然后找出哪些天體是最具威脅性的
So in terms of certain near term projects we've got Hera, is the first dimension. [qh]
在一些近期項目中,我們發現了“赫拉”,這是第一個維度
That's a project from the European Space Agency. [qh]
這是歐洲航天局的一個項目
It's named after the Greek goddess who was married to Zeus, I believe, the queen of the gods.[qh]
這顆行星是以希臘女神的名字命名的,她是宙斯的妻子,是諸神之后