Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

第一章

ALIENS IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM? WITH PROFESSOR NOVA NEFARIOUS

太阳系里有外星人吗？ 和诺瓦教授一起

BEFORE WE START OUR JOURNEY TO FIND ALIENS, WE HAVE TO THINK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHERE ALIENS MIGHT LIVE. It's hard to imagine anything living in empty space (THERE'S NOTHING TO EAT OR BREATHE, PLUS IT WOULD BE REALLY BORING). It's hard to imagine anything living on a star (THE SUNBURN WOULD BE THE WORST!). It's hard to imagine anything living on something like a neutron star (WHERE THE GRAVITY IS SO STRONG EVEN A MOUNTAIN WOULD BE SQUASHED FLAT). AND DON'T EVEN THINK OF SETTING UP HOME ON A BLACK HOLE.

在我们开始寻找外星人的旅程之前，我们必须考虑一下外星人可能生活在哪里。 很难想象有什么东西生活在空旷的空间里（没有东西吃，也没有呼吸，而且真的很无聊）。 很难想象有什么东西生活在恒星上（太阳晒伤是最糟糕的！） 很难想象有什么东西能生活在中子星这样的东西上（中子星的引力如此之强，连一座山都能被压扁）。 千万别想在黑洞上安家。

THE ONLY THING LEFT IS A PLANET. If aliens do exist, we're pretty sure they have to live on a planet somewhere. And so, if we want to find aliens, first we're going to have to find the planets that could have aliens living on them. So... how do you find a planet? THIS IS HOW YOU FIND A PLANET Let me kick things off by asking you a question. ARE YOU READY? (That wasn't the question.)

只剩下一颗行星了。 如果外星人真的存在，我们很确定他们一定生活在某个星球上。 所以，如果我们想找到外星人，首先我们必须找到可能有外星人居住的行星。 所以…如何找到一颗行星？ 这就是你如何找到一颗行星让我先问你一个问题。 你准备好了吗？（这不是问题所在。）

WHO WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO DISCOVER A PLANET? IT'S GOT TO BE SOME FAMOUS ASTRONOMER, RIGHT? MAYBE... GALILEO? OR, ERR, DR. TELESCOPE? Nope. The first person to discover a planet probably didn't have a name. Or, if they did, they were called "Ug" or something. That's because anyone can see lots of planets just by looking up at night! The very first people walking around TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO would have seen planets in the night sky (although they were probably too busy running awayfrom saber-toothed tigers to do much stargazing). The first people to pay proper attention to the planets were called the BABYLONIANS, who lived around 4,000 years ago.

谁是第一个发现行星的人？ 一定是某个著名的天文学家，对吧？ 也许……伽利略?或者，呃，Dr。 望远镜吗?不。第一个发现行星的人可能没有名字。 或者，如果他们这样做，他们被称为“Ug”或其他什么。 这是因为任何人只要在晚上抬头就能看到很多行星！数万年前，第一批行走的人可能已经看到了夜空中的行星（尽管他们可能正忙着逃离剑齿虎，没有时间观星）。 最早关注行星的人是生活在大约4000年前的巴比伦人。

FUN FACT: The Babylonians are the same people who came up with the idea of having 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour. They sure liked counting to 60. Maybe they had 60 fingers? The Babylonians noticed that there were FIVE BRIGHT STARS IN THE SKY that moved around in a weird way, realized they were special, and decided to name them after their most important and favorite gods. They called them NAB, ISTAR, NERGAL, MARDUK, and NINURTA. When I say these bright stars "MOVE AROUND IN A WEIRD WAY," I don't mean they DANCE AROUND or zip all over the sky like PLANES or METEORS.

有趣的事实：巴比伦人就是提出一分钟有60秒，一小时有60分钟这个想法的人。 他们当然喜欢数到60。 也许他们有60根手指？ 巴比伦人注意到天空中有五颗明亮的星星，它们以一种奇怪的方式移动，意识到它们很特别，并决定以他们最重要和最喜欢的神的名字命名它们。 他们给他们起名叫拿伯、伊斯塔、尼格尔、马杜克、尼努塔。 当我说这些明亮的星星“以一种奇怪的方式移动”时，我并不是说它们像飞机或流星一样在天空中跳舞或飞驰。