(单词翻译:单击)
In 2004, researchers were combing through the data from a satellite called WMAP when they noticed something unusual.
2004年，研究人员在梳理一颗名为WMAP卫星的数据时，发现了一些异常现象。
Part of the universe looked a lot colder than the rest.
宇宙的某一部分看起来比其他地方冷得多。
They called it, appropriately, the Cold Spot and scientists still aren't really sure why it's there.
科学家们称它为“冷点”，他们也不确定它为什么会在这儿出现。
But according to recent research, it has a lot to do with what's basically a hole in the universe,
但最新的研究表明，它与宇宙中什么是空洞有很大关系，
a region where there's much less matter than there should be.
空洞内缺少很多本应有的物质。
The Cold Spot was originally found in the map of the Cosmic Microwave Background, or CMB.
冷点最初是在宇宙微波背景（CMB）的地图上发现的，
The CMB is energy left over from about 378,000 years after the Big Bang
CMB是大爆炸后37万8千年左右留下的能量，
when the universe was no longer just a dense fog of hydrogen plasma
那时宇宙不再是氢等离子体浓雾，
and instead became made of regular old neutral atoms which radiated heat.
取而代之的是散发热量的普通旧中性原子。
This background radiation forms the very edge of the observable universe.
这种背景辐射形成了可观测宇宙的边缘。
The universe has no edge.
宇宙没有边界。
And we observe it as thermal radiation,
我们把它看作是热辐射，
tiny variations in temperature that are mapped out as different wavelengths of visible light.
温度的微小变化被描绘成不同波长的可见光。
Now, the Cold Spot is weird
现在，冷点很奇怪，
because a huge swath of the map is colder than the rest by about 70 microKelvin, that's 70 millionths of a Kelvin.
因为地图上的一大片区域比其他地方的温度低大约70微开尔文，也就是7千万分之一开尔文。
That might not seem like very much,
这看起来不是很多，
but the rest of the CMB usually varies by just 18 microKelvin.
但CMB其余部分的变化通常只有18微开尔文。
And scientists have come up with plenty of possible explanations for why the Cold Spot is there.
科学家们想出了很多冷点存在原因的解释。
Some have said that the spot isn't even real,
有人说冷点并不是真实存在的，
that it was just an error in the technique that was used to study the data,
它只是过去用来研究数据的技术上的一个错误，
a technique called the Spherical Mexican Hat Wavelet Method because it's shaped like a sombrero. You get it.
这项技术被称为球形墨西哥帽小波法，因为它形似墨西哥帽。这样你就明白了。
But others proposed that it was simply a much less dense region of space
另一些人则认为它只是一个密度小得多的空间区域，
and now it looks like they were at least partly right.
现在看来他们至少有一部分是对的。
Most models of the universe suggest that the cosmos is arranged kind of like an enormous piece of foam.
大多数宇宙模型表明宇宙排列就像一片巨大的泡沫。
When you zoom really, really far out, you can see that matter in the form of galaxies,
当你快速飞到很远很远的地方时，会看见星系形式的物质
is organized into huge filaments and sheets called superclusters.
形成了叫做超星系团的巨型长丝和薄片。
And since a lot of this matter was drawn together in these threads,
由于许多物质串联聚集在了一起，
it left some relatively empty spaces, like pockets in the foam.
它留下了一些相对空旷的空间，比如泡沫中的小块地区。
Those regions of less dense space are usually called voids
这些密度较低的区域通常称为空洞，
and we've known about them since at least the 1970s.
我们至少是在20世纪70年代知道它们的。
We were able to spot them because the less dense an area of space is,
我们能够发现它们是因为空间密度越小，
the bluer and colder it looks in the CMB.
在CMB上看起来就越蓝，也越冷。
But despite their name, voids aren't totally empty.
尽管它们名为空洞，但不完全是空的。
They can contain thousands and thousands of galaxies.
它们能包含成千上万的星系。
But that's still way, way less than other areas, and voids are usually pretty small.
但它的物质仍比其他区域要少，空洞通常非常小。
So, for the Cold Spot to be caused by a void
由于冷点是由空洞引起的，
this thing would have to be much bigger than any void ever discovered before.
它将比之前发现的任何空洞都大得多。
A supervoid. It just didn't seem possible.
它是超空洞，但似乎不可能。
But in April of this year a group of astrophysicists showed that it might be.
但在今年4月，一组天体物理学家表明它可能存在。
The team compared two sets of data:
这个小组比较了两组数据：
a catalogue of all the known galaxies and a map of the sky seen in the infrared
所有已知星系的目录和一张在红外线中看到的天空地图，
that would help them calculate things like position and distance.
这将帮助他们计算出冷点的位置和距离。
When they counted the galaxies around where the Cold Spot had been detected
当他们计算已探测出的冷点周围的星系时，
they discovered that it had 10,000 fewer than they would've expected based on the average density of galaxies in the universe.
基于宇宙星系的平均密度，发现它们比预测的少了10000个。
So, the Cold Spot had all the appearances of being an incredibly large lack of matter in a pocket of the universal foam.
于是，冷点是一小块宇宙泡沫中缺乏大量物质的区域。
But the findings still couldn't completely explain the Cold Spot.
但此次发现还不能完全解释冷点的存在。
According to researchers,
根据研究者的发现，
the lack of mass in that region would only account for about one-tenth of the apparent temperature drop.
这个地区缺乏的物质只导致其表面温度下降十分之一。
So, we're just stuck with the fact that there's this big, nearly empty swath of the universe that's colder than the rest.
所以我们一直坚信，宇宙中这几近无物的大块区域比其他地方冷得多。
Since we still can't explain 90% of the Cold Spot's coldness,
90%冷点寒冷的成因我们都解释不了，
it'll just have to stay a mystery for now.
所以它至今仍是一个谜。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Space
感谢您收看本期的太空科学秀，
and especially to our patrons on Patreon who help make this show possible.
特别感谢Patreon对本节目的大力赞助。
If you wanna help support this content, just go to Patreon.com/SciShow
如果你想帮助我们继续制作此类节目，请登录Patreon.com/SciShow。
And don't forget to go to Youtube.com/SciShowSpace and subscribe!
也不要忘了登录Youtube.com/SciShowSpace点击订阅哦！
