國家地理頻道|哈勃終極望遠鏡

【聽音頻，也可猛戳左下角“閱讀原文”】

It will be a poignant moment for those of us who have used Hubble.

對于我們這些曾經使用過哈勃的人來說，那將是個難受的時刻，

It's just been such a fabulous part of our lives and allowed us to do so much wonderful work.

它曾經是我們生命中令人驚異的一部分，它讓我們能完成如此多奇妙的工作。

But I think at the same time, we're looking forward.

但是與此同時，我覺得我們應該向前看。

The next generation of space telescope is called, 'The James Webb Space Telescope' and is scheduled for launch in 2013.

下一代的太空望遠鏡叫做“詹姆斯?韋伯太空望遠鏡”，按計劃于2013年發射升空。

The Webb telescope will go beyond Hubble, literally.

韋伯望遠鏡將會全面超越哈勃。

It will be placed beyond the Moon, poised in delicate balance among the gravitational pulls of the Earth, Moon and Sun.

它將會被放置月球的后面，將會巧妙的處于地球、月球、太陽之間的引力平衡點上。

James Webb Space Telescope is coming along after Hubble has some hope of actually directly imaging planet around another star.

繼哈勃之后的詹姆斯·韋伯太空望遠鏡有希望直接拍攝到環繞其它恒星的行星。

Someday, we hope to not only find earth-like planets, but to detect their atmospheres, chemically analyze their atmospheres, and see if there are signatures of, of life.

某一天，我們希望不僅是發現類地行星，還能探測這些行星的大氣，分析它們的大氣化學成份。再看看那里有沒有生命的跡象。

This is not science fiction, this is not fantasy.

這不是科幻，也不是幻想。

We are on a fast track.

我們正處在科技高速發展期。

The Webb will take science beyond Hubble's range, but the Hubble will always be the first.

韋伯將超過哈勃把科學帶到更高的高度，但哈勃將永遠是第一個。

The first space telescope.

第一部太空望遠鏡。

And the first telescope for Everyman.

屬于全人類的第一部望遠鏡。

Scientists use it, but the public have more access to the pictures that were brought down from this telescope than ever before.

科學家使用它，但是大眾有比以前更多的途徑得到望遠鏡拍攝到的天文圖片，

And so it revolutionized astronomy as far as the public was concerned.

這樣因為大眾的關注，同時也革新了天文學。

If you wake up someone out of bed, a random citizen in this country, and say, 'name a telescope'.

如果你從床上叫醒一個人，隨便哪個國家的一個人，然后問他：說一個望遠鏡的名字。

They're gonna name Hubble.

他們肯定會說哈勃。

Hubble is about the frontier.

哈勃意味著新的領域，

Hubble is about discovery.

哈勃意味著探索，

Hubble is about what's new.

哈勃意味著新事物。

Going into the future, I hope that we find some way to maintain that capability because the instant it goes away, we're blind.

在未來，我希望我們能找到一種方法來保持這種觀測能力，因為如果失去這種能力，我們就會成為盲人。

It has circled the earth thousands of times, whirling around us again and again.

它已經環繞地球飛行了數千次，繞著我們一次又一次。

Hubble has been the wide eyes of some very curious beings.

哈勃已經成為有著強烈好奇心的生物的大眼睛。

It has given us astonishing images, taking the human mind to the beginning and the end of time beyond our own ability to wonder at the world

它給了我們令人驚嘆的圖像，帶領人類的思想去到時間的起點和終點，讓我們超越了猜想世界的能力。