Karen J. Meech: The story of 'Oumuamua, the first visitor from another star system
كارين جيه ميتش: قصة (أومواموا)، أول زائر من نظام نجمي آخر
Karen J. Meech is an astronomer who investigates how habitable worlds form and explores the bigger picture of whether there is life elsewhere. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
المحتملة لاصطدام الكويكبات بالأرض،
for possible asteroid collision hazards,
is scanning the sky every night.
are examined by Pan-STARRS staff
التلسكوب الأجسام المحتملة
moving rapidly between the stars,
measurements of position and speed
لقياسات الموقع والسرعة
أصبحت لدينا معلومات كافية
wasn't from our solar system.
astronomers are waiting for.
علماء الفلك المختصين بالنظام الشمسي.
an interstellar comet
since the 1970s,
from the nearest star system
(42 تريليون كيلومتر)
entered our solar system
of the constellation Lyra,
on September 9th,
شديدة القرب أو غير عادية.
close approach or unusual distance.
to see objects close by.
its closest approach to the Earth,
أصبح في أقرب نقطة من الأرض،
by astronomical standards.
by its unwieldy catalog name,
هذا الاسم التسجيلي غير العملي،
that passed through the solar system
الاسطوانية خلال النظام الشمسي
science fiction story in 1973.
لـ(أرثر كلارك) عام 1973.
by a telescope in Hawaii,
عن طريق تلسكوب في هاواي،
on Hawaiian culture --
from the distant past reaching out to us.
القادم إلينا من الماضي السحيق.
was important for many reasons,
is for what 'Oumuamua can tell us
system and the growth of planets
gets ejected from the new solar system
من النظام الشمسي الجديد،
through the dusty disk
الضخمة عبر قُرْص الحطام
that a shiver runs up and down your spine?
very emotionally moving?
from another solar system
من مادة من نظام شمسي آخر
about 'Oumuamua,
from another star system?
and what you can have,
وبين الذي يمكنك أخذه منه،
and fading very rapidly.
ويتلاشى بسرعة كبيرة.
by a factor of [10].
we were going to have
of getting telescope time --
الحصول على تلسكوب الزمن،
peer-reviewed proposal process
لاستعراض الأقران لاختيار المقترحات
competition for resources.
It was a fierce battle.
perfectly crafted proposal words
selfish point of view,
is how massive 'Oumuamua is.
it passed very close to the Earth,
until afterwards.
had it not missed the Earth?
of the velocity times its mass,
on how big it is and what it's made of.
والمادة التي يتكون منها،
and what's its shape?
think of comparing the brightness
فكروا في مقارنة سطوع
on a distant airplane.
because it's so far away.
the surface of 'Oumuamua is,
it's very similar to small asteroids
أنه مشابه جدًا للكويكبات الصغيرة
of charcoal and wet sand.
are used in what's called a service mode,
تُستخدم في ما يسمى وضع الخدمة،
all the instructions
for the data to come back,
قلقين حتى تعود البيانات،
it's cloudy last night.
any second chances here.
على أي فرص ثانية هنا.
'Oumuamua decided not to be.
قرر (أومواموا) أن يختفي.
racing between the stars.
رؤية (أومواموا) يتسابق بين النجوم.
the telescope is following its motion.
لأن التلسكوب يتابع حركته.
fainter, brighter, and fainter again,
ولمع وبهت مرة أخرى.
of four sides of an oblong object.
جوانب من جسم مستطيل الشكل.
conclusion about its shape.
very long and narrow,
this means it's about half a mile long.
هذا يعني أن طوله نصف ميل.
solar system looks like this.
في نظامنا الشمسي مشابه لهذا.
that even have an axis ratio
التي لديها حتى نسبة محور
in its home solar system.
تكوينه في نظامه الشمسي الأصلي.
every 7.34 hours,
كل 7.34 ساعة،
to come in from other teams,
من البيانات من فرق أخرى،
we learn about something,
is not rotating in a simple way.
لا يدور بطريقة بسيطة.
around its short axis,
of it being violently tossed
from its brightness
on how it's spinning,
what it may look like,
في ماذا قد يكون شكله،
by space artist Bill Hartmann,
من فنان الفضاء (بيل هارتمان)،
may be more of a flattened oval.
أكثر من شكل بيضاوي مسطح.
to have a piece of 'Oumuamua
الحصول على قطعة من (أومواموا)
so we could study it in detail.
can't manage to launch
on remote observations.
الاعتماد على المراقبة عن بعد.
interacts with the surface.
تفاعل الضوء مع السطح.
giving it a chemical fingerprint,
مما يعطيه بصمة كيميائية،
الأخرى لن تقوم بهذا.
may just reflect more blue
ربما تعكس الأزرق أكثر
it reflected more red light,
فهو يعكس الضوء الأحمر أكثر،
rich surface of the comet recently visited
سطح المذنب الغني بمواد عضوية
has the same composition.
حمراء اللون لديها نفس التكوين.
tiny little bits of iron in the surface
قطع صغيرة من الحديد في السطح
من قمر زحل (إيابيتوس)،
of Saturn's moon Iapetus,
from the Cassini spacecraft.
من المركبة الفضائية (كاسيني).
in other words, metal,
what's on the surface,
about what's on the inside.
that it must at least be strong enough
يجب أن يكون بالقوة الكافية
similar to that of rocky asteroids;
الموجودة بالكويكبات الصخرية؛
I want to show you
color images that we got
من أحد التلسكوبات الأرضية.
it's not all that spectacular.
was not because of the images,
our observations out
from the discovery,
along the orbit,
من المواقع على طول المدار،
where 'Oumuamua came from.
a leftover archaeological remnant
أن يكون مخلفات أثرية متبقية
of another planetary system,
that maybe 'Oumuamua formed
that was much denser than our own,
shredded planetary material
مزّقت المواد الكوكبية
this is something that formed
it's a natural object,
that it's not something artificial.
أنه ليس شيئًا اصطناعيًا.
the tumbling motion
this is alien technology,
and search for a radio signal?
والبحث عن إشارة لاسلكية؟
the Breakthrough Listen project did,
(بريك ثرو ليسن)
has remained completely quiet.
بقى (أومواموا) هادئًا تمامًا.
a spacecraft to 'Oumuamua
مركبة فضائية إلى (أومواموا)
and expensive voyage,
would be very difficult.
الاقتراب النهائي صعبًا للغاية.
has many more things to teach us,
لديه العديد من الأمور ليعلمها لنا،
more surprises in store
continue to work with the data.
في العمل مع البيانات.
I think this visitor from afar
that our solar system isn't isolated.
أن نظامنا الشمسي ليس منعزلًا.
be surrounded by interstellar visitors
محاطين بالزوار النجميين
than its provided answers,
بدلًا من تقديم الإجابات،
to a visitor from another solar system.
بزائر من نظام شمسي آخر.
that talk very much. Thank you.
بهذه المحادثة، شكرا لكِ.
pretty late in its journey towards us.
للغاية في رحلته نحونا.
the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope
مثل تلسكوب الرصد الشامل الكبير
we'll start to see a lot of these things,
في رؤية الكثير من هذه الأمور،
as it's approaching the Sun,
خلال اقترابه من الشمس،
to do all the science,
للقيام بكافة الأمور العلمية.
على نقطتيْ (لاغرانج) الـ4 والـ5
you can chase it.
يمكننا مطاردته.
Let's thank Karen again.
دعونا نشكر (كارين) مرة أخرى.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Karen J. Meech - Astronomer, astrobiologistKaren J. Meech is an astronomer who investigates how habitable worlds form and explores the bigger picture of whether there is life elsewhere.
Why you should listen
Astrobiologist Karen J. Meech uses the leftover pieces from our solar system's formation to understand how habitable planets are made. Her curiosity about life beyond earth was inspired as a child watching Star Trek. From this, her path led to a career in physics and astronomy, with a PhD in planetary physics from MIT. She is now an astronomer at the University of Hawaii, where she leads the astrobiology group, and she is a passionate scientific educator.
Meech started her astronomical career investigating comets, the icy leftovers from the birth of our solar system. Her work led to an understanding of many of the processes that cause the beautiful tails to develop far from our Sun. She was co-investigator on three comet missions. Her discoveries provide information to test our understanding of how planetary systems are assembled. Now her work has embraced the power of interdisciplinary science, and she is combining geological field work, geochemistry, astronomical observations, theory and space mission concepts to address fundamental questions about how earth got its water.
Karen J. Meech | Speaker | TED.com