美国国家公共电台 NPR--NASA's James Webb telescope will change how we view the universe

NASA's James Webb telescope will change how we view the universe

Transcript¹

NASA's newest and most powerful observatory², the James Webb Space Telescope, will release its first color picture on July 12 at 10:30am EST.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

NASA and its international partners have just released the first set of images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope, the most sophisticated telescope ever sent into space. And I am telling you, these images are spectacular. And what's more, they contain information that's going to change our understanding of the universe that we live in. We've got NPR's Joe Palca with us to talk about all these things. Hey, Joe.

JOE PALCA, BYLINE³: Hey there, Rachel.

MARTIN: I mean, these are just the most spectacular photos. I don't know what I'm looking at, but just as art, they show a clarity to our universe that we really haven't seen before.

PALCA: Well, they definitely are eye candy. You know, when - they sent this telescope up back in December, and all along, while they were getting it ready to hand over to the scientists, they wanted to get something that would knock people's socks off and be scientifically relevant for these first set of images. And they built them up to a big furor⁴ and they just - they've just finished releasing them in the last few minutes.

MARTIN: Let's talk about...

PALCA: They are spectacular.

MARTIN: Yeah. So let's talk about what they say, what they mean. I mean, the picture I'm looking at right now, I mean, the colors, first of all, are fantastic. It looks like this kind of hole and there's light emanating⁵ from it. This is the Southern Ring Planetary Nebula⁶.

PALCA: Yeah. That's right. So what it is, is it's a star that's exploded, and it's driven gas out into a halo that's about a half a light year across. And they've seen this before. This isn't the first image, but the detail in this image is spectacular.

MARTIN: Yeah.

PALCA: And it's the same with some of the others. I mean, you feel almost like you could fall into them. The one that I was - that was actually released last night was this so-called deep field, which is you basically point at what looks like a blank patch of sky. And then you hold the camera steady for 12 hours, and you get this thing, which is all this - these dim objects in the background, and you feel like you would fall into it. And there's galaxies⁷ all over the place in this image. And some of them are, you know, the earliest galaxies that have ever been imaged by a telescope ever.

MARTIN: So let's talk about the reason for this telescope in the first place. I mean, this is what it was designed to do - right? - go find these galaxies.

PALCA: Yeah, exactly. I mean, there are many kinds of things the telescope can do. But if you listen to Heidi Hammel, she's a scientist on the - interdisciplinary scientist on the James Webb team, you'll sort of get the idea of why we're seeing this image, first of all.

HEIDI HAMMEL: So the very reason that we designed the James Webb Space Telescope, the reason it is a unique, infrared⁸-capable telescope, was to be able to see the very first galaxies that have formed in our universe.

PALCA: And the reason infrared is important is that these galaxies are so far away that their light has now been stretched out. Once, it might have been in the visible spectrum⁹. Now, it's been elongated¹⁰ to the infrared spectrum. So if you don't have an infrared camera or an infrared telescope, you're not going to see them. So that's one of the things they're going to get.

MARTIN: Right. So what comes next? That seems like such an insufficient¹¹ question.

PALCA: Well, these pictures - these are the pictures that NASA's selected to say, here's an example of what these things can do. Now, they - scientists clearly have an idea. You know, they get their turn, essentially¹². They'll be looking at planets. They'll be looking at star formation. They'll be looking at galaxies. They'll be looking at stars dying. It's going to be wild.

MARTIN: NPR's Joe Palca. Thank you so much, Joe.

PALCA: You're very welcome, Rachel.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 furor   

n.狂热；大骚动

参考例句：

• His choice of words created quite a furor.他的措辞引起了相当大的轰动。
• The half hour lecture caused an enormous furor.那半小时的演讲引起了极大的轰动。

5 emanating   

v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的现在分词 )；产生，表现，显示

参考例句：

• Even so, there is a slight odour of potpourri emanating from Longfellow. 纵然如此，也还是可以闻到来自朗费罗的一种轻微的杂烩的味道。 来自辞典例句
• Many surface waters, particularly those emanating from swampy areas, are often colored to the extent. 许多地表水，特别是由沼泽地区流出的地表水常常染上一定程度的颜色。 来自辞典例句

6 nebula   

n.星云，喷雾剂

参考例句：

• A powerful telescope can resolve a nebula into stars.一架高性能的望远镜能从星云中分辨出星球来。
• A nebula is really a discrete mass of innumerous stars.一团星云实际上是无数星体不连续的集合体。

7 galaxies   

星系( galaxy的名词复数 )； 银河系； 一群（杰出或著名的人物）

参考例句：

• Quasars are the highly energetic cores of distant galaxies. 类星体是遥远星系的极为活跃的核心体。
• We still don't know how many galaxies there are in the universe. 我们还不知道宇宙中有多少个星系。

8 infrared   

adj./n.红外线(的)

参考例句：

• Infrared is widely used in industry and medical science.红外线广泛应用于工业和医学科学。
• Infrared radiation has wavelengths longer than those of visible light.红外辐射的波长比可见光的波长长。

9 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

10 elongated   

v.延长，加长( elongate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Modigliani's women have strangely elongated faces. 莫迪里阿尼画中的妇女都长着奇长无比的脸。
• A piece of rubber can be elongated by streching. 一块橡皮可以拉长。 来自《用法词典》

11 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

12 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。