Juna Kollmeier: The most detailed map of galaxies, black holes and stars ever made
朱娜 · 柯迈耶: 关于星系,黑洞和恒星最详细的地图
Using all the techniques known to astronomy -- mathematics, computers and data from telescopes on the ground and in space -- Juna Kollmeier seeks to understand how the universe formed by mapping stars, galaxies and black holes at scale. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
I was afraid of the dark.
outside of my bedroom
turned to curiosity.
我对黑暗的恐惧变成了好奇。
is something that's fascinated humans
of their attempts to map the sky.
星空位置的古老遗迹。
that it's a carving of Orion
in ancient China.
foot in the middle --
更是一目了然。
that you're looking at the Moon phases
就是昴宿星,七姐妹星。
that's the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters.
mapping the sky for a long time.
已经有很长时间了。
as a species in the galaxy
against the darkness.
going to engage in this battle,
three essential elements.
that are giving off light,
that are collecting that light,
what that light is.
都用眼睛观测过月相图,
the Moon phases over time
your more basic telescope.
扮演着什么样的角色,
what that means with your brains,
of your more basic instruments.
恒星极其精确的图像。
extremely precisely.
the front line to the battle.
and his buddy, or his assistant, really,
确切的说是他的助手,
is just infinite, which it is,
事实也确实如此,
with one or two of your besties.
技艺精湛的军队,
就可以完成非凡的任务。
can accomplish the extraordinary.
数字巡天项目,简称SDSS。
of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, SDSS.
to shepherd individual curiosity
如何在工业时代成功的:
to make discoveries
真正推进探索的边界。
to truly advance the frontier.
into three mappers:
分割成三个探索区域:
取决于你怎么计数,
depending on how you count,
plus or minus a few hundred billion stars.
误差可能有几千亿。
that you hold in your head.
make practical sense
in your hand. You know?
all of those stars yet.
恒星的分布还差得远。
the most interesting ones.
测绘600万颗恒星的图像,
the age of a star,
spread all throughout the Milky Way.
历史和化石记录,
and fossil record of our galaxy
right to the chase here.
objects in the universe.
以一种我们几乎无法理解的
math incarnate, in a physical form,
and walking around the corridors here.
在我们身边走来走去一样。
密度就变得非常大。
and it's super dense and that's weird.
我们现在已经知道黑洞这点了。
and we know that now.
about black holes
by studying the material
物质来充分了解黑洞。
of no information return.
可见光、紫外线和无线电波。
and optical and UV and radio waves.
how these objects grow.
half a million supermassive black holes,
超过50万个超大质量黑洞,
you guys are all familiar with that.
average galaxy.
and all the Milky Ways,
amount of energy.
这种变化是怎么发生的?
how does this transformation happen?
这些星系怪物的内部,
to the bellies of the beast
where they are occurring
grows up into Ward Cleaver.
拥有斯隆望远镜,
hosts the Sloan telescope in New Mexico,
telescope, the du Pont.
is the size of our mirror,
它实际上没有那么大,
这些旧望远镜上连接了新仪器,
on these old telescopes
of those objects into our aperture,
光都捕捉到光圈里,
at the focal plane,
and process that light.
entirely robotic.
the Blade Runners among you,
每个望远镜的焦平面上。
of each telescope in each hemisphere.
galaxies, black holes.
那些观测对象,
as we pass over them
and black holes, and yes,
黑洞就是个奇怪的现象。
that black holes are weird.
在我们“宇宙后院”中爆炸的恒星。
in our cosmic backyard.
map the sky one time.
to each part of the sky multiple times
我们要多次回到天空的每个部分,
是如何随着时间变化的。
these objects change over time.
encode the physics,
形成和变化的秘密。
are growing and changing.
数以百万计的观测对象,“修整天空”,
millions of objects, mow the sky,
industrial machine going,
留给好奇的天才,对吧?
lone wolf genius," right?
曾经是一名荷兰教师,
versions of the SDSS data,
incredibly rare type of object,
根据斯隆基金会的授权,
and by mandate from the Sloan Foundation,
a fancy astrophysicist to participate.
一个杰出天体物理学家也能参与其中。
"Can moons have moons?"
four-year-olds over all of time
didn't know the answer.
that can host hypothetical submoons.
可以容纳假想子卫星的卫星。
that there are so many basic questions
important point about SDSS.
the black holes, the robots --
on a rubble pile
in a totally average galaxy
能够赢得探索它们世界的战斗。
to understand their world.
(掌声)
测绘出的星系数量。
in large surveys since about 1980.
可观测宇宙中每一个大星系的样貌。
in the observable universe by 2060.
我们已经完成了从整理蛤壳
from arranging clamshells
再到整理SDSS的跨越——
in a few thousand years --
理解宇宙的权利。
of our right to understand our universe.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Juna Kollmeier - Theoretical astrophysicistUsing all the techniques known to astronomy -- mathematics, computers and data from telescopes on the ground and in space -- Juna Kollmeier seeks to understand how the universe formed by mapping stars, galaxies and black holes at scale.
Why you should listen
As she tells it, Juna Kollmeier believes "all humans have an inalienable right to know about their world. For the past two decades, I have been studying the cosmos -- from planets to galaxies to black holes. I am currently making a new map of the sky -- the fifth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey."
Led to a career in astrophysics by "a STEM camp in Michigan," Kollmeier is currently an astrophysicist at the Carnegie Institution for Science. Her research focuses on the emergence of structure in the universe on multiple scales and how the tiny fluctuations in density that were present when the universe was only 300,000 old became the stars, galaxies and black holes that we see now. Her goal is to complete this new SDSS sky map and to make sure these data remain available to the public for study.
Juna Kollmeier | Speaker | TED.com