(单词翻译:单击)
Let's face it: Without the Sun, we wouldn't be here.
我们必须承认的事实是：如果没有太阳，就没有人类的今天。
Its radiation is a huge part of what makes Earth's surface habitable to complex life. So we owe it a lot.
从很大程度来说，太阳辐射是地球表面宜居并能支持复杂生命存续的重要原因，所以我们欠太阳一个大人情。
But that radiation can also cause trouble. And I'm not just talking about sunburns.
但太阳辐射也会造成麻烦。这种麻烦不只限于晒斑。
In a phenomenon called the solar wind, our star continuously throws out streams of charged particles at more than 500 kilometers per second.
有一种现象叫做太阳风，即太阳会持续放射出带电粒子束，放射速度达500多公里/秒。
And while Earth's magnetic field protects us from most of that, the wind can also change dramatically.
虽然地球磁场会隔绝大部分太阳风，但太阳风还是会给我们带来巨大的改变。
Those changes, at least near Earth, are referred to as space weather.
这种改变，至少在近地区域里，可以叫做空间气象。
And just like regular weather can be a bit unpredictable and dangerous, space weather can be, too.
就像平时天气可能会难以预测甚至十分危险一样，空间气象也会同样地难以预测和危险。
So last week, NASA announced two more missions to help us understand it.
上周，美国宇航局（NASA）宣布再进行2次任务，以帮助人类更好地了解空间气象。
They won't launch for a few years, but once they do, they have the potential to teach us a lot.
虽然未来几年内还不会执行这次任务，但一旦任务执行，就很有可能让我们获取大量信息。
The first of these newcomers is PUNCH, which stands for Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere.
第一项任务名为统一日冕和日球层偏光计（PUNCH）。
It will feature four suitcase-sized spacecraft in Earth orbit and will study how the corona generates the solar wind.
这项任务会派4个手提箱大小的航天器，会研究日冕是如何产生太阳风的。
It will also study one of the biggest space weather events out there: coronal mass ejections, or CMEs.
这次任务还会研究宇宙中规模最大的空间气候活动之一：日冕物质抛射（CME）。
CMEs happen when large arcs of electrically-charged particles and other solar matter erupt from the Sun's surface.
CME发生的条件是：以大弧形形式出现的带电粒子和能量从太阳表面喷发出来。
If they're oriented just right… or some might say just wrong… they hit the Earth.
如果喷发的角度合适的话，会击中地球。不过有些可能也会觉得角度朝向地球不是件好事。
Although they're usually associated with solar flares, they're actually a different phenomenon.
虽然这种粒子流通常会跟太阳耀斑同时出现，但实际上它们是两种不同的现象。
But they can still be a big problem. CMEs are powerful enough to wreak havoc on the electronics within Earth's satellites.
虽然不是同一种现象，但这种粒子流也是个大麻烦。CME的冲击力很强，足以扰乱地球卫星的电子设备。
And occasionally, they can even make it all the way through Earth's protective magnetic field and damage systems on the ground, like power plants.
有时候，CME还能抵达地球起到保护作用的磁场，从而破坏地面上的一些系统，比如电力厂。
Right now, it's hard to predict when CMEs will happen, so among other things, PUNCH will attempt to figure out how they develop.
现在很难预测CME何时会发生，所以PUNCH任务的目标之一是尝试弄清CME的产生机理。
It will also look for a way astronomers could forecast them, which would allow teams for both space- and ground-based electronics to take precautions for their equipment before a space storm hits.
PUNCH任务还会寻找一种能让天文学家预测CME的方法，这样一来，空间和地球上的电子设备都能提前采取预防措施，避免CME来临的时候，设备受到损坏。
To help with that forecasting, PUNCH will be the first mission to consistently track space weather in 3-D — which, given that's what we live life in, seems like an important step to take.
为了辅助科学家的预测，PUNCH任务还将以3D形式追踪空间气象——毕竟我们就生存在宇宙中，所以这一步还是很重要的。
Of course, this mission isn't scheduled to launch until 2022 at the earliest, so it will be a while before we see results.
当然了，PUNCH任务最早也要2022年才能启动。所以，一时半会，我们还无法得知结果。
But it's always good to know that NASA has exciting things in the pipeline.
但得知NASA有激动人心的事情要发生总不算是坏事。
The second mission NASA announced last week has a less punchy acronym, but still pretty awesome, it's called TRACERS.
NASA上周宣布了第二项任务，该任务的缩写没有第一个任务缩写那么酷，不过也不赖——TRACERS。
And it will launch with PUNCH, but will study how the solar wind affects Earth specifically.
这项任务会跟PUNCH一起启动，但研究的内容会是太阳风对地球的影响方式。
It's not pointed at the Sun, but at us.
该任务的主要研究对象是地球，而非太阳。
The mission will be trained on the region around one of Earth's poles, where Earth's magnetic field guides charged particles coming from space down into our atmosphere.
第二项任务将会着眼于地球南极或北极附近的区域，因为两极附近的地球磁场会引导宇宙里的带电粒子进入地球大气层。
Usually, Earth's magnetic field redirects the solar wind around our planet, but sometimes, when the Earth's and Sun's magnetic fields touch, the wind can push through in regions called cusps.
通常情况下，地球磁场会让地球附近的太阳风改变方向，不过，有时候，当地球和太阳磁场相接触的时候，太阳风会穿过高度极隙区。
It happens because Earth's magnetic field lines can suddenly snap and connect upon exposure to space weather.
之所以会发生这种情况是因为地球磁场线会忽然断掉，只有在处于空间气象的时候才会重新连接上。
Similar magnetic reconnections happen on the Sun itself, which is actually what causes solar flares and CMEs.
太阳也会发生类似的磁场重连情况，这种重连会导致太阳耀斑和CME出现。
But on Earth, it can send showers of charged particles toward us at nearly the speed of light.
当这种情况出现时，对地球的影响是：会有带电粒子流以接近光速的速度飞向地球。
That causes the pretty light shows we call auroras, but it can also interfere with electronic equipment.
继而产生了极光。此外这种现象还会干扰电子设备。
So it's important to understand how these processes work.
所以，了解这个流程是很重要的。
Together, PUNCH and TRACERS will help researchers on Earth but that's not all.
这两项任务会帮助科学家，但好处还不止于此。
As a bonus, they'll also help future crewed missions to Mars, where astronauts won't have Earth's magnetic field to protect them.
额外的好处是能帮助未来飞往火星的太空任务，因为飞往火星任务的途中，宇航员是不受磁场保护的。
When those missions start, the more we know about the Sun and space weather, the safer our astronauts will be.
任务开启时，我们对太阳和空间气象了解得越多，宇航员就越安全。
Meanwhile, on the other side of the solar system, researchers have also been investigating a certain planet's rings.
与此同时，在太阳系的另一面，科学家也在研究某个行星环。
I'm not talking about Saturn, though. Because while Saturn definitely gets all the attention, it isn't the only planet we have with rings.
这里所说的行星并非土星。因为虽然土星获得了广泛关注，但土星并非唯一有行星环的星体。
All the gas giants have them; they're just not as impressive.
所以气体巨星都有行星环，只是没那么耀眼。
Still, that doesn't mean they aren't special. Because last week, scientists announced that they've gotten a better glimpse of Uranus's rings.
不耀眼并不意味着不独特。因为上周的时候，一些科学家宣布他们观测到了天王星环更为清晰的图片。
And butt jokes aside, they're pretty interesting. The first of these rings was officially discovered in 1977.
说正经地，这些照片蛮有趣的。人类第一次发现行星环是在1977年。
Now, scientists think there are 13 of them, and many are rather uncreatively named after letters in the Greek alphabet.
目前为止，科学家观测到了13个行星环。这些行星环的名字都没什么创意，都是以希腊字母表的顺序命名的。
The brightest is epsilon, but that's not saying too much, considering it's about as reflective as charcoal.
其中最亮的要属ε环，就像灼烧的碳那样明亮。
Regardless, it turns out that it's unique among all the rings around other bodies in the solar system, because it's missing all of its dust-sized particles.
不过，我们发现，ε环是太阳系里最独特的行星环，因为其所在行星上没有灰尘颗粒大小的例子。
They're all roughly centimeter- to meter-sized. Scientists had suspected this before, but now, two teams of astronomers have confirmed it, and their paper has been accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal.
上面的粒子差不多都是厘米到米的大小。科学家以前只是怀疑，现在终于证实了这一点。他们发表在《天文学期刊》上的文章也获得了广泛认可。
They got their results using Chilean telescopes to study the microwave and mid-infrared light emitted from Uranus's ring system.
他们通过智利望远镜得到了结果，研究了天王星环发射出的微波和中红外线。
This was the first time anyone had imaged the rings like this.
这是人类首次观测到这样的星环。
But as for why there's no dust in the ring, we still don't know.
不过至于天王星环上为何没有尘埃颗粒，我们至今不明原因。
There's certainly dust elsewhere around Uranus, so maybe some gravitational entity is kicking the dust out of the epsilon ring, or another is making it clump together.
天王星附近一定有尘埃，因此，或许有可发出引力作用的实体将尘埃从其星环上隔绝走了，又或许有某种作用让尘埃聚集在一起了。
Because it's a unique system amongst our gas giants, it's definitely worth investigating.
由于这是所有气体巨星中独一无二的一个星环，所以是值得我们研究的。
Especially since we can't even tell exactly what the rings are made out of, yet.
尤其是考虑到我们现在甚至还不知道星环的组成成分，就更需要研究该星环了。
Besides looking at dust, the astronomers also produced the first temperature measurements of Uranus's rings.
除了观测尘埃之外，天文学家还对天王星环进行了首次温度测量。
And they're only about 77 Kelvin or so, which, for reference, is the temperature liquid nitrogen boils.
结果显示：只有大概77开尔文左右。为了让这个数字更具象，在此我告诉大家——这个温度是液态氮的沸点。
That's really cold, but it was actually higher than expected, and it could suggest the particles in the ring rotate slower than models suggest.
这个温度是很低的，不过，比我们预想的要高。这表明，该星环上的粒子转速要比模型显示的快。
If they do, the side facing the Sun would get to absorb more radiation, and the side away would have more time to lose its heat.
在这种情况下，朝向太阳的那一面就会吸收更多的辐射，而背对太阳的那一面就会失去更多的热量。
The team hopes to continue studying Uranus when the James Webb Space Telescope eventually launches — which will potentially happen in 2021.
该研究团队希望能继续研究天王星。等詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜面世后，他们会使用这个望远镜来观测——那时候会是2021年。
It will have a suite of instruments sensitive enough — and at the right wavelengths — to finally determine exactly what the rings are made of.
该望远镜配有一套灵敏度极高的设备——在波长恰到好处的时候——能够确定星环的组成成分。
So not all research about the solar system is going to help us directly on Earth. Sometimes we're just curious.
所以，并不是所有跟太阳系有关得研究都能直接帮助地球上的科学家。有时候，我们只是很好奇而已。
That's an important part of being human, and we here at SciShow Space are totally here for it.
好奇心是人与生俱来的重要品质，我们节目成立的初衷是也是出于好奇心。
Speaking of being curious, this episode is brought to you by our patrons on Patreon!
说到好奇心，这一集的播出也离不开有超强好奇心的忠实粉丝！
Thanks for your support, and for being such a thoughtful and curious bunch of people.
感谢你们的支持，感谢有好奇心的你们为节目所做的贴心支持。
And special thanks to Dan Nollette, who is this episode's President of Space!
尤其要感谢丹，他是这一期节目的主策划。
If you want to learn more about supporting SciShow and how you could become the next President of Space, you can head over to patreon.com/scishow.
如果您想继续支持我们的节目并想像丹一样成为的话，可以浏览patreon.com/scishow看看。
