《星际穿越》中的科学

人类是天生的探险家
Humans are natural-born explorers.
我们挺进未知领域探索未知
We charge into uncharted territory and seek out the unknown.
我们几乎标出了地球上的每一寸…
We’ve mapped nearly every inch of Mother Earth…
并在月球上留下了足迹
…and left tracks on the moon.
但要踏足另一星球…
But to set foot on another planet…
超出我们的太阳系…
…to travel beyond our solar system…
这是未来的梦想
…that is a dream for the future.
在故事片《星际穿越》中 梦想变成现实
A dream that comes to life in the feature film Interstellar.
我们不要以个体自居 而要以物种自居
We must think not as individuals but as a species.
我们必须面对星际旅行的现实
We must confront the reality of interstellar travel.
电影《星际穿越》讲述的是
The film Interstellar deals with the quest
对新世界和人类命运的探索
for new worlds and the fate of humanity.
听起来像是科幻片
Sound like the stuff of science fiction?
也许吧
Maybe.
但这部影片的基础植根于真正的科学…
But the foundations of this film are rooted in real science…
多亏了著名天体物理学家 基普·索恩的参与
…thanks to the involvement of renowned astrophysicist Kip Thorne.
在《星际穿越》中 最重要的特点之一…
In Interstellar, one of the most important features…
就是科学完全嵌入影片的方式
…is the way that the science is totally embedded in the film.
这里有一些非凡的东西
There are some wild things in here.
超越了奇幻科幻范畴 这就是《星际穿越》里的真实科学
Beyond fantasy and fiction, this is the real science of Interstellar.
星际穿越
中的科学
从最开始 太空旅行就成为电影的主题…
Space travel has been a staple of the movies from the very beginning…
但故事片《星际穿越》有独特的背景
…but the feature film Interstellar has a unique pedigree.
它的部分灵感来自 基普·索恩的成就…
It was inspired in part by the work of Kip Thorne…
他是天体物理学 引力波…
…an authority on astrophysics, gravitational waves…
以及时空扭曲理论领域的权威
…and the warping of space-time.
他也是本片的执行制片
He’s also an executive producer on the film.
在《星际穿越》中
In Interstellar,
真正的科学一开始 就被植入影片结构
real science was built into the fabric of the film from the outset.
基普·索恩 加州理工学院
本片其他主要演员 他们都尊重科学…
The other major players in this film, they all respected the science…
他们和我一起携手 共同见证了科学被很好地得以体现
…and they worked with me to see that the science was well incorporated.
您能告诉我 奇点的最简单定义是什么吗
Can you tell me what the easiest definition of what a singularity is?
在试图使用现有思想方面
Kip and myself meshed well in terms
克里斯托弗·诺兰 《星际穿越》导演 编剧
我和基普配合得非常默契…
of trying to use current thinking…
现有科学认识推动故事发展
…current scientific understanding to drive the narrative.
我们使用的语言…
The language we use…
就是这个地方的时空弯曲得无限高
…is it’s a place where the curvature of space and time gets infinitely high.
我们做得很好
So we’re good, okay.
我们只希望我们进行的研究
And we just hope that the research we’ve done
以及我和基普进行的对话…
and the conversations I’d had with Kip…
乔纳森·诺兰 《星际穿越》编剧
克里斯和基普进行的对话与研究
…and that Chris had had with Kip informed
为故事提供了资料…
the narrative…
而观众会感觉到的
…and that the audience would feel that.
简单地想象一下 为什么…
Why simply imagine, fantasize…
对事物的幻想会在太空 或者星际旅行中发生
…about things that might happen in space or on an interstellar journey?
为什么不看看存在的真正的科学
Why not actually look at, uh, the real science there?
这是一架印度无人侦察机
It’s an Indian surveillance drone.
《星际穿越》发生在未来…
Interstellar takes place in a future…
那时地球上的生活条件 威胁到了人类的生存
…where living conditions on Earth threaten the survival of humanity.
您女儿这一代 将会是地球上最后的幸存者
Your daughter’s generation will be the last to survive on Earth.
现在你需要告诉我 你拯救地球的计划是什么
Now you need to tell me what your plan is to save the world.
我们没打算拯救地球 我们要离开它
We’re not meant to save the world, we’re meant to leave it.
影片探索的主题之一是 我们是否属于地球…
One of the things that the film explores is, do we belong on Earth…
艾玛·托马斯 《星际穿越》制片
我们要不要留在地球…
…and should we be staying on Earth…
而如果那里有什么其他东西 我们应该去探索吗
…and if there is anything else out there, should we be exploring that?
我们开始吧
Here we go.
影片中团队寻找一个称为家的新地方
In the film, the crew seeks a new place to call home.
一个可以维持生命的星球
A planet that can sustain life.
人类的生命
Human life.
-我回不来 -你可以
– I’m not gonna make it! – Yes, you are.
太空可能有其他生命世界存在 这个概念激动人心
It’s an exciting concept that there may be other worlds out there.
那么这些世界是什么 他们会是什么样…
Well, what are those worlds and what could they be…
那里有适合我们生存的地方吗
…and is there a place for us out there?
对另一地球的探索
The search for another Earth…
听起来就像未来探险家的工作…
…sounds like a job for the explorers of tomorrow…
但是这些工作现在就进行着
…but it’s happening right now.
天体物理学家娜塔莉·巴塔哈 就是一位狂热的星球猎人
Astrophysicist Natalie Batalha is a passionate planet hunter.
我想我们要在星系
I think the only way that we’re going
真正了解地球的唯一途径…
to really understand our place in the galaxy…
就是通过观察这广阔的画面
…is by looking at this broad picture
并认识所有星球的多样性
and understanding the diversity of all planets.
娜塔莉·巴塔哈 美国航♥天♥局艾姆斯研究中心
二三十年前 我们不知道…
Twenty or 3O years ago, we didn’t know…
任何其他星球就像地球绕太阳运转
…of any other planets orbiting normal stars
一样绕着普通的恒星运转
like our own sun.
作为美国宇航局 开普勒太空望远镜任务科学家…
Natalie has helped rewrite that story as mission scientist…
娜塔莉已经帮助重写了该故事
…for NASA’s Kepler space telescope.
开普勒的目标很简单
Kepler’s objective is very simple.
就是确定我们星系的恒星部分…
It’s to determine the fraction of stars in our galaxy…
确定在一个地球大小的星球 适合居住的可能性
…that harbor potentially habitable Earth-size planets.
那么什么使一个星球 可能适合居住呢
And what makes a planet potentially habitable?
我们认为适合所有生命的共同要素…
The one ingredient that we think is common to all life forms…
就是对液态水的需求
…is this requirement of liquid water.
所以这就是我们为什么寻找 具备这些条件的星球…
So that’s why we look for planets that have rocky surfaces…
要有岩石表面可以积水…
…where water could pool…
并获得来自恒星的适量的能量…
…and that are receiving the right amount of energy from the star…
那里的水不会因为星球太冷
…where the water wouldn’t be locked up in a frozen state
而以冰冻的状态封存…
because the planet is so cold…
也不要因为星球太热 水分都被蒸发掉了
…nor would it be evaporated away because the planet is too hot.
我们称之为适居带 那里液态水可能存在
We call it the Goldilocks Zone, where liquid water could potentially exist.
开普勒于2009年发射…
Launched in 2009, Kepler stared…
连续盯着一小块银河系盯了四年
…at one small patch of the Milky Way for four years straight.
对于开普勒来说
Compared to stars,
与恒星♥相♥比 行星太小难以发现…
planets are too tiny for Kepler to spot…
但它能探察它们的阴影
…but it can detect their shadows.
绕着恒星运行的每一个行星 都会向太空投射阴影
Every planet orbiting a luminous object is casting a shadow out into space.
开普勒宇宙航♥天♥器利用这一事实…
The Kepler spacecraft makes use of that fact…
在行星绕恒星运行轨道等候…
…waiting for a planet in its orbit about the star…
直接穿过恒星与航♥天♥器之间的圆面…
…to pass directly between the disc of the star and the spacecraft…
望远镜将其作为光影察觉到
…and the telescope perceives that as a dimming of light.
亮度
数小时时间
用这一简单方法 已发现了数千颗系外行星
This simple method has revealed thousands of exoplanets.
在我们银河系绕其他恒星运行的行星
Planets orbiting other stars in our galaxy.
迄今为止 我们了解到的是…
What we’ve learned so far…
差不多银河系里的每个恒星 都有至少一个行星
…is that literally every star in the galaxy has at least one planet.
太空的系外行星有惊人的多样性
There’s an amazing diversity of exoplanets out there…
并且我们已经发现了非常奇异的世界
…and we’ve found very exotic worlds.
距离两百光年的地方 有一颗土星大小的行星绕着…
Two hundred light-years away, there is a Saturn-size planet orbiting…
不是一颗 而是两颗恒星运行
…not one, but two stars.
所以如果你生活在一个
So if you were living
像开普勒-16B这样的世界上…
on a world like Kepler-16b…
你会看到天上有两颗恒星东升西落…
…you would see in the sky two stars rising in the east, setting in the west…
由于它们互相绕行 不断地变换着位置
…continuously changing position as they orbit one another.
这是开普勒-10B行星的艺术演示
This is an artist’s rendition of the planet Kepler-1Ob.
它绕行其母恒星的距离
It’s orbiting 23 times closer to its parent star
比水星绕行太阳的距离近23倍
than Mercury is to our own sun.
所以面向恒星的这一面 正被恒星辐射侵蚀…
So this star-facing side is just being blasted by stellar radiation…
产生的温度超过了熔铁所需的温度
…creating temperatures in excess of that required to melt iron.
该行星有整个半球比太平洋还要大…
The planet has an entire hemisphere larger than the Pacific Ocean…
都是海洋 但不是水的海洋
…which is an ocean, but it’s not an ocean of water.
它是熔岩的海洋
It’s an ocean of molten lava.
不是个吸引人的目的地
Not an attractive destination.
不过开普勒最近 为我们发现了一个可能的第二家园
But Kepler recently found us a possible second home.
这是开普勒-186行星系的 艺术概念
This is an artist’s concept of the Kepler-186 planetary system.
五颗行星绕行这个M形恒星…
Five planets orbiting this M-type star…
最外面的行星上开普勒-186F
…and the outermost planet is Kepler-186f.
这是我们在普通恒星适居带
Our first discovery of an Earth-size planet
首次发现的地球大小行星
in the habitable zone of a normal star.
当我想到开普勒-186F时