TED演讲:行星猎者的冒险(4)（在线收听）

One of the reasons NEOWISE is so valuable is that it sees the sky in the thermal infrared.

NEOWISE有这样高价值的原因之一便是它使用红外感应观测天空。

That means that instead of seeing the sunlight that asteroids reflect, NEOWISE sees the heat that they emit.

这意味着NEOWISE看到的是小行星辐射的热量而不是它们反射的太阳光。

This is a vital capability since some asteroids are as dark as coal

这是一项很重要的能力，因为一些小行星像黑碳一样暗，

and can be difficult or impossible to spot with other telescopes.

其他的探测器很难或不可能发现这类行星。

But all asteroids, light or dark, shine brightly for NEOWISE.

但所有亮或暗的行星对NEOWISE来说，都是发光的。

Astronomers are using every technique at their disposal to discover and study asteroids.

宇航员在使用一切可能的手段和技术去寻找并研究小行星。

In 2010, a historic milestone was reached.

2010年，我们达到了一个里程碑。

The community, together, discovered over 90 percent of asteroids bigger than one kilometer across

参与的组织共同发现直径大于一公里的百分之九十以上的小行星。

objects capable of massive destruction to Earth. But the job's not done yet.

这些物体能对地球造成巨大破坏。但是工作并没有结束。

An object 140 meters or bigger could decimate a medium-sized country.

一个140米宽或更大的物体能够摧毁一座中型城市。

So far, we've only found 25 percent of those.

迄今为止，我们只找到了它们中的四分之一。

We must keep searching the sky for near-Earth asteroids.

我们必须继续搜索天空，寻找近地小行星。

We are the only species able to understand calculus or build telescopes.

我们是唯一能理解微积分或制造望远镜的物种。

We know how to find these objects. This is our responsibility.

我们知道如何找到这些物体。这是我们的责任。

If we found a hazardous asteroid with significant early warning, we could nudge it out of the way.

如果我们发现一个极具危险性的小行星并提前发出有效警告，我们便可以把它推走。

Unlike earthquakes, hurricanes or volcanic eruptions,

不像地震，飓风或火山爆发，

an asteroid impact can be precisely predicted and prevented.

行星所产生的影响是可以被准确预测并预防的。

What we need to do now is map near-Earth space.

我们现在所需的是将地球附近的太空准确标记。

We must keep searching the sky. Thank you.

所以，我们必须继续对天空的搜索。谢谢。