“旅行者2號”即將離開太陽系

Traveling into space has been a lasting dream of mankind since ancient times. However, even by now, humans have only been to the moon. Earth and the moon are just small parts of our solar system, not to mention the vast Milky Way. Like our ancestors, we cannot help wondering what else there may be in our vast universe.

遨游太空自古以來便是人類長久的夢想。然而，如今人們的足跡只到達(dá)了月球。地球和月球都只是太陽系的一小部分，更別提廣闊的銀河系了。正如同我們的祖先一樣，我們不禁會想，廣闊的宇宙中到底還有哪些未知的事物。

The Voyager probes might be able to give us the answer one day. According to NASA, Voyager 2 is getting close to the edge of our solar system.

“旅行者號”探測器或許有朝一日能夠給我們答案。美國航空航天局表示，“旅行者2號”正在不斷靠近太陽系的邊緣。

Voyager 2 is now 17.7 billion kilometers away from Earth, according to Newsweek. It is now in the heliosphere, which marks the edge of our solar system.

據(jù)《新聞周刊》報道，目前，“旅行者2號”距離地球177億公里?，F(xiàn)在探測器正處于太陽系的邊緣——日光層。

If Voyager 2 continues traveling at a fixed speed of 15.4 kilometers per second, it will probably leave our solar system in late 2019 or early 2020. It will become the second man made object to leave our solar system following its sister spacecraft Voyage 1, which did so in 2012.

如果“旅行者2號”繼續(xù)按照每秒15.4公里的固定速度前進(jìn)，或許將于2019年末或2020年初離開太陽系。該探測器將成為第二個離開太陽系的人造物體，此前，它的姐妹探測器“旅行者1號”于2012年飛離太陽系。

Since it launched in 1977, Voyager 2 has sent many messages back to us. “It has educated us to the unknown wonders of the universe and truly inspired humanity to continue to explore our solar system and beyond,” Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, told Universe Today, a US-based space and astronomy news website.

“旅行者2號”自1977年發(fā)射以來，便傳回了不少信息。“它告訴了我們宇宙中不為人知的奇跡，真正激發(fā)了人類繼續(xù)探索太陽系內(nèi)外，”美國航空航天局科學(xué)任務(wù)局副局長托馬斯·祖布臣在接受美國太空天文新聞網(wǎng)站“今日宇宙網(wǎng)”采訪時表示。

Apart from exploring the vast universe, Voyager 2 is also carrying the message from Earth. According to the Washington Post, there is a golden record aboard the Voyager 2. It contains 115 images and sounds from Earth, ranging from an image of a chimpanzee to greetings in 55 languages. The record could serve as a “time capsule and transmit much more information about life on Earth, should extraterrestrials find it,” Smithsonian Magazine reported.?

除了探索廣闊的宇宙之外，“旅行者2號”還載有來自地球的信息。據(jù)《華盛頓郵報》報道，“旅行者2號”上放有一張金唱片，內(nèi)有地球上115段圖像和聲音，從大猩猩的圖片到55種語言的問候語等等。據(jù)《史密森尼雜志》報道，“如果外星人能找到這張唱片，它能作為一個時間膠囊，傳播更多地球生物的信息。”

However, extraterrestrials might not get the chance to find it. According to Popular Science, the nuclear batteries that power the Voyager probes may stop working around 2030.

然而，外星人們或許沒有機(jī)會找到唱片了。據(jù)《科技新時代》雜志報道，驅(qū)動“旅行者號”探測器的核能電池或?qū)⒂?030年前后停止工作。