1 00:00:00,573 --> 00:00:01,773 WWW.CHDTV.NET 2 00:00:02,073 --> 00:00:05,773 -=CHD字幕组=- 荣誉出品 制作 翻译：QSZHANG 时间轴:qszhang 校对:hdlawrence 3 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:11,707 Our world. warm, comfortable, familiar... 4 00:00:12,975 --> 00:00:15,644 ...But when we look up, we wonder: 5 00:00:15,811 --> 00:00:20,049 Do we occupy a special place in the cosmos? 6 00:00:20,216 --> 00:00:23,219 Or are we merely a celestial footnote 7 00:00:23,385 --> 00:00:27,890 Is the universe welcoming or hostile? 8 00:00:28,958 --> 00:00:32,094 We could stand here forever, wondering 9 00:00:34,296 --> 00:00:39,201 Or we could leave home on the ultimate adventure 10 00:00:48,077 --> 00:00:50,546 To discover wonders 11 00:00:52,781 --> 00:00:55,351 Confront horrors 12 00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:00,256 Beautiful new worlds 13 00:01:01,790 --> 00:01:04,593 Malevolent dark forces 14 00:01:08,964 --> 00:01:11,300 The Beginning of time. 15 00:01:12,568 --> 00:01:15,671 The moment of creation. 16 00:01:16,805 --> 00:01:20,142 Would we have the courage to see it through? 17 00:01:21,844 --> 00:01:24,480 Or would we run for home? 18 00:01:25,915 --> 00:01:28,717 There's only one way to find out 19 00:01:47,369 --> 00:01:51,974 Our journey through time and space begins with a single step. 20 00:01:52,141 --> 00:01:55,978 At the edge of space, only 60 miles up... 21 00:01:56,145 --> 00:01:58,847 ...just an hour's drive from home 22 00:02:01,884 --> 00:02:03,986 Down there, life continues. 23 00:02:04,153 --> 00:02:07,623 The traffic is awful, stocks go on trading 24 00:02:07,790 --> 00:02:10,859 ...and Star Trek is still showing 25 00:02:23,038 --> 00:02:27,676 When we return home, if we return home... 26 00:02:29,011 --> 00:02:30,412 ...will it be the same? 27 00:02:30,579 --> 00:02:33,415 Will we be the same? 28 00:02:37,820 --> 00:02:40,456 We have to leave all this behind 29 00:02:40,623 --> 00:02:44,360 To dip out toes into the vast dark ocean 30 00:02:45,461 --> 00:02:48,831 On to the Moon. 31 00:03:18,761 --> 00:03:21,830 Dozens of astronauts have come this way before us 32 00:03:21,997 --> 00:03:25,768 Twelve walked on the moon itself 33 00:03:28,937 --> 00:03:32,107 Just a quarter of a million miles from home. 34 00:03:32,274 --> 00:03:35,110 Three days by spacecraft 35 00:03:40,749 --> 00:03:42,551 Barren. 36 00:03:42,885 --> 00:03:44,620 Desolate. 37 00:03:47,022 --> 00:03:50,125 It's like a deserted battlefield 38 00:03:51,126 --> 00:03:53,429 But oddly familiar. 39 00:03:53,896 --> 00:03:57,499 So close, we've barely left home 40 00:04:07,509 --> 00:04:11,246 Neil Armstrong's first footprints. 41 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:14,216 Looks like they were made yesterday 42 00:04:14,383 --> 00:04:16,852 There's no air to change them. 43 00:04:17,019 --> 00:04:20,189 They could survive for millions of years 44 00:04:21,623 --> 00:04:23,959 Maybe longer than us. 45 00:04:29,565 --> 00:04:32,034 Our time is limited 46 00:04:32,201 --> 00:04:35,571 We need to take our own giant leap 47 00:04:37,239 --> 00:04:41,844 One million miles, 5 million, 20 million miles. 48 00:04:42,010 --> 00:04:46,582 We're far beyond where any human has ever ventured 49 00:04:48,117 --> 00:04:51,353 Out of the darkness, a friendly face 50 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:56,258 The goddess of love, Venus. 51 00:04:59,194 --> 00:05:01,430 The morning star. 52 00:05:01,797 --> 00:05:04,099 The evening star. 53 00:05:05,334 --> 00:05:08,470 She can welcome the new day in the east... 54 00:05:09,505 --> 00:05:11,874 ...say good night in the west 55 00:05:18,413 --> 00:05:20,749 A sister to our planet... 56 00:05:20,916 --> 00:05:24,520 ...she's about the same size and gravity as Earth. 57 00:05:25,187 --> 00:05:27,523 We should be safe here 58 00:05:29,358 --> 00:05:33,095 But the Venus Express space probe is setting off alarms 59 00:05:33,262 --> 00:05:38,300 It's telling us, these dazzling clouds, they're made of deadly sulfuric acid 60 00:05:38,467 --> 00:05:42,971 The atmosphere is choking with carbon dioxide 61 00:05:47,943 --> 00:05:53,348 Never expected this Venus is one angry goddess. 62 00:05:54,850 --> 00:05:58,921 The air is noxious, the pressure unbearable. 63 00:05:59,087 --> 00:06:03,725 And it's hot, approaching 900 degrees 64 00:06:04,726 --> 00:06:10,165 Stick around and we'd be corroded suffocated, crushed and baked 65 00:06:16,872 --> 00:06:19,942 Nothing can survive here. 66 00:06:21,577 --> 00:06:24,746 Not even this Soviet robotic probe. 67 00:06:24,913 --> 00:06:29,251 Its heavy armor's been trashed by the extreme atmosphere. 68 00:06:40,562 --> 00:06:45,901 So lovely from Earth, up close, this goddess is hideous 69 00:06:59,882 --> 00:07:01,884 She's the sister from hell. 70 00:07:02,050 --> 00:07:05,587 Pockmarked by thousands of volcanoes 71 00:07:05,754 --> 00:07:09,024 All that carbon dioxide is trapping the Sun's heat. 72 00:07:09,191 --> 00:07:11,026 Venus is burning up. 73 00:07:11,193 --> 00:07:14,496 It's global warming gone wild 74 00:07:14,663 --> 00:07:18,533 Before it took hold, maybe Venus was beautiful, calm... 75 00:07:18,700 --> 00:07:21,703 ...more like her sister planet, Earth. 76 00:07:21,870 --> 00:07:25,207 So this could be Earth's future 77 00:07:27,542 --> 00:07:29,611 Where are the twinkling stars? 78 00:07:29,778 --> 00:07:33,181 The beautiful spheres gliding through space? 79 00:07:33,348 --> 00:07:37,586 Maybe we shouldn't be out here, maybe we should turn back 80 00:07:38,453 --> 00:07:42,591 But there's something about the Sun, something hypnotic, like the Medusa 81 00:07:42,758 --> 00:07:46,895 Too terrible to look at, too powerful to resist 82 00:07:47,429 --> 00:07:52,467 Luring us onward on, like a moth to a flame. 83 00:07:54,670 --> 00:07:59,608 Wait ,there's something else, obscured by the sun 84 00:08:00,042 --> 00:08:02,344 It must be Mercury. 85 00:08:03,345 --> 00:08:08,016 Get too close to the sun, this is what happens. 86 00:08:08,317 --> 00:08:10,652 Temperatures swing wildly here 87 00:08:10,819 --> 00:08:14,623 At night, it's minus 275 degrees 88 00:08:14,790 --> 00:08:18,493 ...come midday, it's 800 plus. 89 00:08:20,829 --> 00:08:23,699 Burnt then frozen. 90 00:08:28,470 --> 00:08:32,741 The MESSENGER space probe is telling us something strange. 91 00:08:32,908 --> 00:08:37,746 For its size, Mercury has a powerful gravitational pull. 92 00:08:39,581 --> 00:08:44,119 It's a huge ball of iron, covered with a thin veneer of rock 93 00:08:44,286 --> 00:08:48,523 The core of what was once a much larger planet. 94 00:08:49,224 --> 00:08:50,792 So where's the rest of it? 95 00:08:50,959 --> 00:08:54,096 Maybe a stray planet slammed into Mercury 96 00:08:54,262 --> 00:08:59,735 ...blasting away its outer layers in a deadly game of cosmic pinball 97 00:09:02,437 --> 00:09:07,776 Whole worlds on the loose careening wildly across the cosmos... 98 00:09:07,943 --> 00:09:10,379 ...destroying anything in their path 99 00:09:10,545 --> 00:09:12,514 And we're in the middle of it 100 00:09:12,681 --> 00:09:15,817 Vulnerable, exposed, small 101 00:09:15,984 --> 00:09:19,054 Everything is telling us to turn back. 102 00:09:19,554 --> 00:09:22,224 But who could defy this? 103 00:09:22,557 --> 00:09:27,396 The Sun in all its mesmerizing splendor 104 00:09:28,830 --> 00:09:32,401 Our light, our lives... 105 00:09:32,567 --> 00:09:35,604 ...everything we do is controlled by the Sun 106 00:09:35,771 --> 00:09:38,140 Depends on it 107 00:09:38,807 --> 00:09:44,046 It's the Greek god Helios driving his chariot across the sky 108 00:09:44,212 --> 00:09:47,783 The Egyptian god Ra reborn every day 109 00:09:47,949 --> 00:09:51,420 The summer solstice sun rising at Stonehenge. 110 00:09:51,586 --> 00:09:52,954 For millions of years... 111 00:09:53,121 --> 00:09:59,261 ...this was as close as it got to staring into the face of God 112 00:10:07,969 --> 00:10:09,538 It's so far away... 113 00:10:09,704 --> 00:10:13,942 ...it is burned out, we wouldn't know about it for eight minutes 114 00:10:17,279 --> 00:10:22,117 It's so Big, you could fit one million Earths inside it 115 00:10:35,430 --> 00:10:39,401 But who needs number? we've got the real thing 116 00:10:42,737 --> 00:10:47,175 We see it every day, a familiar face in our sky 117 00:10:47,843 --> 00:10:52,714 Now, up close, it's unrecognizable. 118 00:10:53,615 --> 00:10:57,853 A turbulent sea of incandescent gas 119 00:10:58,653 --> 00:11:02,157 The thermometer pushes 10,000 degrees 120 00:11:04,759 --> 00:11:10,332 can't imagine how hot the core is ,could be tens of millions of degrees 121 00:11:20,408 --> 00:11:23,478 Hot enough to transform millions of tons of matter 122 00:11:23,645 --> 00:11:27,215 ...into energy every second 123 00:11:27,382 --> 00:11:31,686 More than all the energy ever made by mankind 124 00:11:32,220 --> 00:11:36,091 Dwarfing the power of all the nuclear weapons on Earth. 125 00:11:36,258 --> 00:11:40,962 Back home, we use this energy for light and heat 126 00:11:41,730 --> 00:11:46,234 But up close, there's nothing comforting about the Sun. 127 00:11:48,170 --> 00:11:54,376 Its electrical and magnetic forces erupt in giant molten gas loops. 128 00:11:54,543 --> 00:11:57,679 Some are larger than a dozen Earths 129 00:11:58,113 --> 00:12:01,449 More powerful than 10 million volcanoes. 130 00:12:14,930 --> 00:12:19,834 And when they burst through they expose cooler layers below... 131 00:12:20,835 --> 00:12:23,538 ...making sunspots. 132 00:12:25,407 --> 00:12:29,477 A fraction cooler than their surrounding, sunspots look black... 133 00:12:29,644 --> 00:12:32,314 ...But they're hotter than anything on Earth. 134 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:38,186 And massive up to 20 times the size of Earth. 135 00:12:52,801 --> 00:12:57,072 But one day, all this will stop 136 00:12:57,239 --> 00:13:00,075 The Sun's fuel will be spent. 137 00:13:05,113 --> 00:13:09,184 And when it dies, the Earth will follow 138 00:13:12,954 --> 00:13:17,192 This god creates life, destroys it... 139 00:13:17,359 --> 00:13:20,328 ...and demands we keep out distance 140 00:13:28,503 --> 00:13:31,473 This comet strayed too close 141 00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:34,576 The Sun's heat is boiling it away... 142 00:13:34,743 --> 00:13:38,713 ...creating a tail that stretches for millions of miles. 143 00:13:49,524 --> 00:13:51,660 It's freezing in here. 144 00:13:51,826 --> 00:13:57,432 There's no doubt where this comet's from, the icy wastes of deep space 145 00:13:59,534 --> 00:14:03,371 But all this steam and geysers and dust... 146 00:14:03,705 --> 00:14:08,476 ...it's the Sun again, melting the comet's frozen heart. 147 00:14:08,643 --> 00:14:09,944 Strange. 148 00:14:10,111 --> 00:14:15,650 A kind of vast, dirty snowball, covered in grimy tar 149 00:14:17,786 --> 00:14:20,255 Tiny grains of what looks like organic material... 150 00:14:20,422 --> 00:14:24,659 ...preserved on ice, since who knows when... 151 00:14:25,460 --> 00:14:28,496 ...maybe even the beginning of the solar system. 152 00:14:30,665 --> 00:14:35,003 Say a comet like this crashed into the young Earth billions of years ago. 153 00:14:35,170 --> 00:14:38,540 Maybe it delivered organic material and water 154 00:14:38,707 --> 00:14:40,809 ...the raw ingredients of life 155 00:14:40,975 --> 00:14:43,445 It may even have sown the seeds of life on Earth... 156 00:14:43,611 --> 00:14:47,148 ...that evolved into you and me 157 00:14:55,790 --> 00:14:59,361 But say it crashed into the Earth now 158 00:14:59,527 --> 00:15:05,467 Think of the dinosaurs, wiped out by a comet or asteroid strike 159 00:15:06,968 --> 00:15:09,237 It's only a question of time. 160 00:15:09,404 --> 00:15:14,542 Eventually, one day, we'll go the way of the dinosaurs 161 00:15:21,916 --> 00:15:26,488 If life on Earth was wiped out, we'd be stuck out here... 162 00:15:26,654 --> 00:15:31,059 ...homeless, adrift in a hostile universe 163 00:15:31,459 --> 00:15:34,195 We'd need to find another home 164 00:15:34,963 --> 00:15:37,966 Among the millions, billions of planets... 165 00:15:38,133 --> 00:15:43,104 ...there must be one that's not too hot, not too cold, with air, sunlight, water... 166 00:15:43,271 --> 00:15:47,275 ...where, like Goldilocks, we could comfortably live 167 00:15:51,946 --> 00:15:53,948 The red planet 168 00:15:54,115 --> 00:15:57,252 Unmistakably Mars. 169 00:15:59,788 --> 00:16:02,624 For centuries, we've looked to Mars for company... 170 00:16:02,791 --> 00:16:05,059 ...for signs of life 171 00:16:12,033 --> 00:16:15,904 Could there be extraterrestrial life here? 172 00:16:18,306 --> 00:16:22,243 Are we ready to rewrite the history books, to tear up the science books... 173 00:16:22,410 --> 00:16:26,381 ...to turn our world upside down? 174 00:16:27,315 --> 00:16:31,853 What happens next could change everything 175 00:16:40,361 --> 00:16:43,965 Mars is the planet that most captures our imagination. 176 00:16:44,132 --> 00:16:48,002 Think of B-movies, sci-fi comics, what follows? 177 00:16:48,169 --> 00:16:49,404 Martians? 178 00:16:49,571 --> 00:16:52,307 It's all just fiction, right? 179 00:16:54,242 --> 00:16:57,645 But what it there really is something here? 180 00:16:58,713 --> 00:17:02,717 Hard to imagine, though. Up close, this is a dead planet 181 00:17:03,785 --> 00:17:09,524 The activity that makes the Earth livable shut down millions of years ago here 182 00:17:09,991 --> 00:17:12,126 Red and dead 183 00:17:12,293 --> 00:17:15,230 Mars is a giant fossil. 184 00:17:19,834 --> 00:17:24,038 Wait. Something is alive 185 00:17:24,205 --> 00:17:26,441 A dust devil, a big one 186 00:17:26,608 --> 00:17:29,310 Bigger than the biggest twisters back home. 187 00:17:29,477 --> 00:17:31,112 There's wind here 188 00:17:31,279 --> 00:17:34,249 And where there's wind, there's air 189 00:17:34,749 --> 00:17:39,020 Could that air sustain extraterrestrial life? 190 00:17:44,626 --> 00:17:47,762 It's too thin tor us to breathe. 191 00:17:48,496 --> 00:17:50,698 And there's no ozone layer 192 00:17:50,865 --> 00:17:55,670 Nothing to protect us against the Sun's ultraviolet rays. 193 00:17:56,871 --> 00:17:58,773 There is water... 194 00:17:58,940 --> 00:18:03,211 ...But frigid temperatures keep it in a constant deep freeze 195 00:18:05,246 --> 00:18:08,182 It's hard to believe anything could live here 196 00:18:11,786 --> 00:18:16,791 Back on Earth, there are creatures that survive in extreme cold, heat... 197 00:18:16,958 --> 00:18:19,260 ...even in the deepest ocean trenches 198 00:18:19,427 --> 00:18:21,896 It's as though life is a virus. 199 00:18:22,063 --> 00:18:25,667 It adapts, spreads 200 00:18:25,833 --> 00:18:28,269 Maybe that's what we're doing right now... 201 00:18:28,436 --> 00:18:33,575 ...carrying the virus of life across the universe. 202 00:18:36,978 --> 00:18:41,916 Even in the most extreme conditions life usually finds a way. 203 00:18:42,083 --> 00:18:43,918 But on a dead planet? 204 00:18:44,085 --> 00:18:49,924 With no way to replenish its soil, no heat to melt its frozen water? 205 00:18:56,230 --> 00:19:00,501 All this dust, it's hard to see where we're going 206 00:19:08,276 --> 00:19:13,414 Olympus Mons, named after the home of the Greek gods 207 00:19:13,581 --> 00:19:16,150 A vast ancient volcano. 208 00:19:16,317 --> 00:19:18,953 Three times higher than Everest. 209 00:19:19,787 --> 00:19:22,790 There's no sign of activity. 210 00:19:24,058 --> 00:19:29,430 Since its discovery in the 1970s, it's been declared extinct 211 00:19:33,134 --> 00:19:34,469 Hang on. 212 00:19:34,636 --> 00:19:36,638 These look like lava flows. 213 00:19:36,804 --> 00:19:41,676 But any sign of lava should be long gone. obliterated by meteorite craters 214 00:19:41,843 --> 00:19:48,049 Unless, this monster isn't dead, just sleeping 215 00:19:49,117 --> 00:19:52,654 There could be magma flowing beneath the crust right now... 216 00:19:52,820 --> 00:19:56,124 ...building up, waiting to be unleashed 217 00:19:56,524 --> 00:20:00,294 Volcanic activity could be melting frozen water in the soil... 218 00:20:00,461 --> 00:20:04,599 ...pumping gases into the atmosphere, recycling minerals and nutrients 219 00:20:04,766 --> 00:20:09,971 Creating all the conditions needed for life 220 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:18,346 This makes the Grand canyon look like a crack in the sidewalk 221 00:20:18,813 --> 00:20:20,415 Endless desolation... 222 00:20:20,581 --> 00:20:26,754 ...so vast it would stretch all the way across North America. 223 00:20:29,190 --> 00:20:35,596 But here, signs of activity, erosion, and what looks like dried up river beds 224 00:20:35,763 --> 00:20:38,966 Maybe volcanic activity melted ice in the soil... 225 00:20:39,133 --> 00:20:42,303 ...sending water gushing through this canyon. 226 00:20:42,470 --> 00:20:48,609 Underground volcanoes could still be melting ice, creating water 227 00:20:48,776 --> 00:20:52,647 And where there's water, there could be life 228 00:20:58,286 --> 00:21:01,956 The hunt for life is spearheaded by this humble fellow... 229 00:21:02,123 --> 00:21:04,859 ...the NASA rover, Opportunity. 230 00:21:05,026 --> 00:21:07,028 It's finding evidence that these barren plains... 231 00:21:07,195 --> 00:21:11,933 ...were once ancient lakes or oceans that could have harbored life 232 00:21:31,385 --> 00:21:33,521 Look at those gullies. 233 00:21:36,057 --> 00:21:40,027 Probes orbiting Mars keep spotting new ones. 234 00:21:41,863 --> 00:21:45,733 More proof that Mars is alive and kicking 235 00:21:46,701 --> 00:21:49,337 ...that water is flowing beneath its surface right now 236 00:21:49,504 --> 00:21:52,707 Water that could be sustaining Martian life 237 00:21:57,779 --> 00:22:01,349 Now, all we have to do is find it 238 00:22:06,788 --> 00:22:11,492 Maybe we've already found what we're looking for on Earth 239 00:22:11,659 --> 00:22:17,198 Some think that life started here and then migrated to Earth 240 00:22:20,768 --> 00:22:24,038 An asteroid impact could've blasted fragments of Mars... 241 00:22:24,205 --> 00:22:27,975 ...complete with tiny microbes out into space... 242 00:22:28,142 --> 00:22:32,647 ...and onto the young Earth where they sowed the seeds of life 243 00:22:33,347 --> 00:22:39,854 No wonder we find Mars fascinating, this could be our ancestral home 244 00:22:40,755 --> 00:22:45,293 It could be we are all Martians 245 00:22:47,562 --> 00:22:50,064 The Mars we thought we knew is gone... 246 00:22:50,231 --> 00:22:54,902 ...replaced by this new, active, changing planet. 247 00:22:57,905 --> 00:23:01,242 And if we don't know Mars, our next door neighbor... 248 00:23:01,409 --> 00:23:05,546 ...how can we even imagine what surprises lie ahead 249 00:23:09,150 --> 00:23:12,954 Our compass points across the cosmos... 250 00:23:14,188 --> 00:23:18,092 ...back in time 14 billion years... 251 00:23:19,360 --> 00:23:22,096 ...to the moment of creation. 252 00:23:31,672 --> 00:23:33,941 This is getting scary. 253 00:23:36,410 --> 00:23:40,147 It's like being inside a giant video game 254 00:23:43,985 --> 00:23:46,787 But these are all too real. 255 00:23:47,154 --> 00:23:52,126 Asteroids, some of them hundreds of miles wide 256 00:23:54,095 --> 00:23:57,865 This one must be about 20 miles long. 257 00:23:58,032 --> 00:24:03,471 And there, perched on it, a space probe. 258 00:24:05,006 --> 00:24:06,073 Can't have been easy... 259 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:10,745 ...parking on an asteroid traveling at 50,000 miles an hour. 260 00:24:10,912 --> 00:24:14,415 It's a lot of effort just to investigate some rubble. 261 00:24:14,582 --> 00:24:16,617 Rubble that regularly collides... 262 00:24:16,784 --> 00:24:21,355 ...breaks up and rains down on Earth as meteorites. 263 00:24:22,957 --> 00:24:27,795 Our ancestors saw shooting stars as magical omens. 264 00:24:27,962 --> 00:24:29,897 And they were right 265 00:24:30,831 --> 00:24:33,634 Rubble like this came together to make the planets... 266 00:24:33,801 --> 00:24:35,937 ...including our own 267 00:24:36,404 --> 00:24:38,339 Pretty magical. 268 00:24:39,407 --> 00:24:41,676 By dating the meteorites found on Earth 269 00:24:41,842 --> 00:24:47,081 ...we can tell the planets were born 4.6 billion years ago. 270 00:24:47,248 --> 00:24:51,953 These are the birth certificates of our solar system. 271 00:24:55,389 --> 00:24:59,694 For some reason, these rocks didn't form into a planet 272 00:25:03,397 --> 00:25:05,933 Something must have stopped them 273 00:25:06,100 --> 00:25:08,569 Something powerful. 274 00:25:17,712 --> 00:25:19,480 Jupiter. 275 00:25:19,647 --> 00:25:21,615 What a monster 276 00:25:21,782 --> 00:25:24,585 At least a thousand time bigger than Earth... 277 00:25:24,752 --> 00:25:29,223 ...so vast you could fit all the other planets inside it 278 00:25:29,724 --> 00:25:34,095 Something this massive dominates its neighbors 279 00:25:34,261 --> 00:25:38,165 Its gravity is pulling the asteroids apart 280 00:25:42,269 --> 00:25:44,505 And it's breathtaking 281 00:25:49,844 --> 00:25:52,613 But this beauty is a beast. 282 00:25:54,815 --> 00:25:56,250 It's almost all gas. 283 00:25:56,417 --> 00:26:01,255 Land here and we'd sink straight through its layers into oblivion. 284 00:26:08,329 --> 00:26:10,297 And Jupiter's good looks? 285 00:26:10,464 --> 00:26:14,135 The product of ferocious violence 286 00:26:14,301 --> 00:26:16,470 It's spinning at an incredible rate 287 00:26:16,637 --> 00:26:20,441 ...whipping up winds to hundreds of miles an hour... 288 00:26:20,808 --> 00:26:25,613 ...contorting the clouds into stripes eddies, whirlpools... 289 00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:31,218 ...and this, the legendary Great Red Spot 290 00:26:32,953 --> 00:26:36,791 The biggest, most violent storm in the solar system. 291 00:26:36,957 --> 00:26:42,396 At least three times the size of Earth, it's been raging for over 300 years 292 00:26:45,699 --> 00:26:50,538 All these churning clouds must have sparked an electrical storm 293 00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:57,311 Just one bolt is 10,000 times more intense than any at home. 294 00:27:08,522 --> 00:27:14,361 Looks like the safest place to see Jupiter is from a distance 295 00:27:15,162 --> 00:27:16,730 Up there at the poles... 296 00:27:16,897 --> 00:27:21,068 ...those dancing lights, they're like the auroras back home. 297 00:27:24,472 --> 00:27:26,440 But the Geiger counter is going wild 298 00:27:26,607 --> 00:27:31,612 Even these are deadly, generated by lethal radiation 299 00:27:38,519 --> 00:27:41,856 Out here, nothing is what it seems. 300 00:27:45,159 --> 00:27:50,698 The universe is full of terrors, traps. 301 00:27:56,670 --> 00:28:01,108 Maybe this is a safe haven, the multi-colored moon, Io 302 00:28:14,321 --> 00:28:15,456 Wrong 303 00:28:15,623 --> 00:28:17,124 Very wrong. 304 00:28:17,291 --> 00:28:23,197 Those brilliant colors are molten rock, volcanoes spewing lava. 305 00:28:30,304 --> 00:28:35,543 Our journey across the universe is turning into a struggle for survival 306 00:28:35,709 --> 00:28:38,279 We've got to hope that if we outlast the dangers... 307 00:28:38,445 --> 00:28:44,285 ...we'll be rewarded by wonders beyond imagination 308 00:28:51,425 --> 00:28:54,495 Four hundred million miles from Earth... 309 00:28:54,662 --> 00:28:59,400 ...flying a commercial airliner here would take nearly a century 310 00:29:02,836 --> 00:29:05,706 What a weird looking place... 311 00:29:07,708 --> 00:29:10,110 ...and yet, strangely familiar 312 00:29:10,277 --> 00:29:15,883 A bit like the Arctic, with all that ice, all those ridges and cracks 313 00:29:20,020 --> 00:29:23,490 It's Jupiter's moon, Europa. 314 00:29:23,657 --> 00:29:29,430 And maybe, like the Arctic, this ice is floating on water, liquid water 315 00:29:32,399 --> 00:29:35,903 But we're half a billion miles from the Sun. 316 00:29:36,203 --> 00:29:39,406 Surely, Europa is frozen solid 317 00:29:45,679 --> 00:29:50,517 Unless, Jupiter's gravity is creating friction deep inside... 318 00:29:50,684 --> 00:29:54,989 ...heating the ice into water, allowing life to develop in the water... 319 00:29:55,155 --> 00:29:57,758 ...beneath its frozen crust. 320 00:29:58,692 --> 00:30:01,895 We might be feet away from aliens 321 00:30:03,430 --> 00:30:09,036 From a whole ecosystem of microbes, crustaceans, maybe even squid 322 00:30:09,203 --> 00:30:13,274 The only thing between us and the possibility of alien life... 323 00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:16,043 ...this layer of ice. 324 00:30:17,478 --> 00:30:20,147 But until we send a spacecraft to drill here... 325 00:30:20,314 --> 00:30:25,386 ...Europa's secrets will remain beyond reach 326 00:30:42,202 --> 00:30:48,108 It's captivated our imaginations, haunted our dreams 327 00:30:48,509 --> 00:30:53,247 And here it is, spinning before our eyes 328 00:30:53,414 --> 00:30:54,682 Saturn. 329 00:30:54,848 --> 00:30:56,050 Named for the Roman god... 330 00:30:56,216 --> 00:31:00,054 ...who reigned over an golden age of peace and harmony 331 00:31:04,725 --> 00:31:11,231 This planet's a giant ball of gas, so light it would float on water 332 00:31:12,132 --> 00:31:17,037 Its spectacular rings would stretch almost from Earth to the Moon. 333 00:31:22,776 --> 00:31:24,578 There's the Cassini orbiter 334 00:31:24,745 --> 00:31:27,214 It's picking up ghostly radio emissions 335 00:31:27,381 --> 00:31:31,352 Probably generated by auroras around Saturn's poles 336 00:31:31,518 --> 00:31:34,655 This is the real music of the spheres. 337 00:31:39,093 --> 00:31:42,129 Cassini's telling us where these rings came from. 338 00:31:42,296 --> 00:31:47,134 They're the remnants of a moon shattered by Saturn's gravitational pull 339 00:31:48,068 --> 00:31:53,207 Incomparable beauty from total destruction 340 00:32:04,017 --> 00:32:05,252 Billions of shards of ice 341 00:32:05,419 --> 00:32:10,324 Some as small as ice cubes, others the size of houses. 342 00:32:13,660 --> 00:32:17,631 They collide, break apart, reassemble 343 00:32:21,402 --> 00:32:25,038 It's like a snapshot of our early solar system... 344 00:32:25,672 --> 00:32:28,542 ...as dust and gas orbited the newly born Sun 345 00:32:28,709 --> 00:32:31,779 ...and gravity worked this magic pulling the lumps together... 346 00:32:31,945 --> 00:32:37,918 ...until from space trash like this, our home emerged 347 00:32:44,725 --> 00:32:47,194 We could stay here forever 348 00:32:56,403 --> 00:33:01,308 But there's so much further to go, so much more to see. 349 00:33:02,576 --> 00:33:07,915 Like this moon wrapped in thick clouds, Titan. 350 00:33:31,905 --> 00:33:34,708 There's an atmosphere down here 351 00:33:34,875 --> 00:33:39,146 There's wind, rain ,even seasons 352 00:33:39,313 --> 00:33:42,816 Rivers, lakes and oceans 353 00:33:43,784 --> 00:33:47,955 It looks so familiar, so similar to Earth. 354 00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:57,764 But that's not water, it's liquid natural gas 355 00:33:57,931 --> 00:34:03,937 Hundreds of times more natural gas than all the Earth's oil and gas reserves 356 00:34:05,639 --> 00:34:09,877 Maybe, one day, we'll use this energy to fuel a colony. 357 00:34:11,979 --> 00:34:14,915 Assuming there isn't life here already 358 00:34:22,055 --> 00:34:26,460 The Huygens space probe is here to find out 359 00:34:27,928 --> 00:34:32,032 It's telling us there's organic material in the soil. 360 00:34:33,267 --> 00:34:37,638 But it's so cold, minus 300 degrees 361 00:34:38,906 --> 00:34:41,742 There's no way life could develop 362 00:34:42,409 --> 00:34:45,145 Unless Titan warms up. 363 00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:49,283 The Sun is supposed to get hotter 364 00:34:49,449 --> 00:34:52,519 When it does maybe life will spring up here... 365 00:34:52,686 --> 00:34:55,088 ...just like it did on Earth 366 00:34:57,824 --> 00:35:03,697 And as the Earth gets too hot for us, maybe we'll move to Titan. 367 00:35:05,465 --> 00:35:09,536 One day, we might call this distant land home 368 00:35:17,878 --> 00:35:19,379 Home. 369 00:35:19,546 --> 00:35:23,317 We're at least 700 million miles away now. 370 00:35:23,483 --> 00:35:27,387 After this we lose visual contact with Earth. 371 00:35:28,555 --> 00:35:30,657 We're standing on a cliff 372 00:35:30,824 --> 00:35:35,562 Looking out over a great chasm that stretches to the beginning of time. 373 00:35:35,896 --> 00:35:39,733 Do we have the courage to jump? 374 00:35:42,069 --> 00:35:45,505 We're in the solar system's outer reaches. 375 00:35:46,473 --> 00:35:50,677 Unseen from Earth, unknown for most of history 376 00:35:51,111 --> 00:35:54,748 It's like diving into the depths of the ocean 377 00:36:04,725 --> 00:36:09,896 Those rings make it look like Uranus has been tilted off its axis 378 00:36:10,063 --> 00:36:13,033 ...toppled over by a stray planet 379 00:36:17,170 --> 00:36:19,339 It's eerie out here. 380 00:36:19,906 --> 00:36:24,077 Already beginning to feel small, lonely 381 00:36:24,878 --> 00:36:28,915 Maybe this is how we'll feel at the edge of the universe 382 00:36:32,886 --> 00:36:35,922 But we've barely left the shore 383 00:36:37,858 --> 00:36:44,364 If the solar system was one mile wide, so far we've traveled about 3 inches 384 00:36:57,344 --> 00:37:00,914 Out of the deep, another strange beast... 385 00:37:01,081 --> 00:37:06,219 ...the god of the sea, Neptune 386 00:37:09,289 --> 00:37:12,959 This world is covered in methane gas 387 00:37:14,327 --> 00:37:16,730 And a storm as big as Earth... 388 00:37:16,897 --> 00:37:21,201 ...whipped up by savage thousand mile-an-hour winds 389 00:37:21,735 --> 00:37:25,105 Back home, it's the Sun that drives the wind... 390 00:37:25,272 --> 00:37:26,773 ...But Neptune's far away. 391 00:37:26,940 --> 00:37:31,611 Something else must be creating these ferocious winds 392 00:37:33,947 --> 00:37:35,582 But what? 393 00:37:37,718 --> 00:37:41,154 We know very little about our own solar system. 394 00:37:52,365 --> 00:37:56,203 After all those balls of gas a solid moon 395 00:37:58,939 --> 00:38:00,540 ...Triton. 396 00:38:02,175 --> 00:38:06,179 Solid but not stable 397 00:38:09,883 --> 00:38:11,218 Just look at those geysers... 398 00:38:11,384 --> 00:38:16,089 ...cosmic smokestacks pumping out strange soot. 399 00:38:16,623 --> 00:38:18,959 And this moon is revolving around Neptune 400 00:38:19,126 --> 00:38:22,329 ...in the opposite direction of the planet's spin. 401 00:38:22,496 --> 00:38:25,098 A cosmic battle of wills... 402 00:38:25,265 --> 00:38:29,703 ...that this angry moon is destined to lose 403 00:38:30,771 --> 00:38:34,407 Neptune's massive gravity is pulling on Triton. 404 00:38:34,574 --> 00:38:38,211 Slowing it down, reeling it in 405 00:38:41,715 --> 00:38:46,453 One day, it will be ripped apart by Neptune 406 00:38:49,623 --> 00:38:51,291 And that's it 407 00:38:51,458 --> 00:38:55,929 No more moons, no more planets in our solar system. 408 00:38:56,096 --> 00:38:59,666 It's getting colder, we're getting further from the Sun... 409 00:38:59,833 --> 00:39:03,904 ...slipping from the grip of its gravitational tentacles. 410 00:39:05,906 --> 00:39:08,341 But this isn't a void 411 00:39:08,508 --> 00:39:12,612 It's teeming with frozen rocks. 412 00:39:13,613 --> 00:39:15,515 Like Pluto. 413 00:39:15,682 --> 00:39:18,885 Until recently, we thought Pluto was alone. 414 00:39:19,052 --> 00:39:21,388 Beyond it, nothing 415 00:39:22,122 --> 00:39:23,857 We were wrong 416 00:39:24,024 --> 00:39:26,426 More frozen worlds 417 00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:31,164 Discoveries so new nobody can agree what to call them 418 00:39:31,331 --> 00:39:36,269 Plutinos, ice dwarves, cubewanos 419 00:39:39,139 --> 00:39:44,578 Our solar system is far more chaotic and strange than we had imagined 420 00:39:45,212 --> 00:39:48,715 Now we're 8 billion miles from home. 421 00:39:49,950 --> 00:39:53,887 The most distant thing ever seen that orbits the Sun... 422 00:39:54,054 --> 00:40:00,560 ...another small, icy world, Sedna, discovered in 2003 423 00:40:01,661 --> 00:40:05,432 Its orbit takes 10,000 years to complete. 424 00:40:11,271 --> 00:40:15,108 Hang on, there's something else out here. 425 00:40:16,676 --> 00:40:21,615 Ten billion miles from home the space probe, Voyager 1. 426 00:40:23,016 --> 00:40:25,719 This bundle of aluminum and antennae... 427 00:40:25,886 --> 00:40:29,155 ...gave us close up views of the giant planets... 428 00:40:29,322 --> 00:40:32,993 ...and discovered many of their strange moons. 429 00:40:35,028 --> 00:40:41,468 It's traveling 20 times faster than a bullet, sending messages home 430 00:40:50,210 --> 00:40:51,645 That gold plaque... 431 00:40:51,811 --> 00:40:54,948 ...its a kind of intergalactic message in a bottle. 432 00:40:55,115 --> 00:40:57,584 A greeting record in different languages 433 00:41:06,559 --> 00:41:11,531 And a map showing how to find our home solar system 434 00:41:13,500 --> 00:41:15,335 The great physicist, Stephen Hawking... 435 00:41:15,502 --> 00:41:18,905 ...thinks it was a mistake to roll out the welcome mat. 436 00:41:19,072 --> 00:41:25,011 After all, if you're in the jungle, is it wise to call out? 437 00:41:38,058 --> 00:41:41,528 These comets look like the ones we saw earlier. 438 00:41:41,695 --> 00:41:45,699 There's a theory that the raw materials for life began out here... 439 00:41:45,865 --> 00:41:49,202 ...on a rock like this until something dislodged it... 440 00:41:49,369 --> 00:41:52,439 ...sending it hurting towards the Earth 441 00:41:55,375 --> 00:42:00,714 And seeding all this ice, maybe comets carried water to Earth too 442 00:42:01,481 --> 00:42:04,751 The water in the oceans, in your body... 443 00:42:04,918 --> 00:42:08,755 ...all from this distant celestial ice machine. 444 00:42:14,761 --> 00:42:20,467 We're 5 million, million, that's 5 trillion miles from home. 445 00:42:20,633 --> 00:42:23,136 But this is still only a baby step. 446 00:42:23,303 --> 00:42:27,974 Ahead, trillions of miles, billions of stars. 447 00:42:28,141 --> 00:42:31,244 Time to stop looking back and start looking ahead... 448 00:42:31,411 --> 00:42:36,282 ...to step out into the big, wide universe 449 00:42:49,362 --> 00:42:51,865 Interstellar space. 450 00:42:59,506 --> 00:43:02,042 Billions of stars like our own Sun... 451 00:43:02,208 --> 00:43:06,679 ...many with planets, many of those with moons. 452 00:43:13,453 --> 00:43:16,222 It's hard to know which way to go 453 00:43:16,389 --> 00:43:19,426 There are infinite possibilities. 454 00:43:21,895 --> 00:43:25,465 We're going to need a serious burst of acceleration. 455 00:43:50,123 --> 00:43:53,026 Twenty-five trillion miles from home. 456 00:43:53,193 --> 00:43:57,597 A 150,000-year ride in the space shuttle. 457 00:43:57,831 --> 00:44:02,102 And we're only just reached the first solar system beyond 458 00:44:04,204 --> 00:44:06,406 ...Alpha Centauri 459 00:44:07,874 --> 00:44:10,243 Not one but three stars. 460 00:44:10,410 --> 00:44:14,447 Spinning around each other locked in a celestial standoff 461 00:44:14,614 --> 00:44:17,183 Each star's gravity attracting the other... 462 00:44:17,350 --> 00:44:21,087 ...their blazing orbital speed keeping them apart. 463 00:44:29,863 --> 00:44:34,434 Get between them and we'd be vaporized... 464 00:44:35,101 --> 00:44:37,670 ...trillions of miles from home. 465 00:44:38,171 --> 00:44:41,441 So far that miles are becoming meaningless. 466 00:44:41,608 --> 00:44:44,978 Out here, we measure in light years. 467 00:44:48,481 --> 00:44:52,418 Light travels 6 trillion miles a year... 468 00:44:52,685 --> 00:44:56,389 ...so we are overfour light-years from home. 469 00:45:00,026 --> 00:45:05,098 Distances so vast they're mind-boggling 470 00:45:10,370 --> 00:45:12,906 Who knows what strange forces lie ahead 471 00:45:13,072 --> 00:45:15,041 ...what we'll discover when-- 472 00:45:15,208 --> 00:45:19,779 If we reach the edge of the universe 473 00:45:24,517 --> 00:45:30,290 Ten light years from Earth, the star Epsilon Eridani 474 00:45:31,057 --> 00:45:34,260 Spectacular rings of dust and ice 475 00:45:34,427 --> 00:45:38,231 And somewhere in there, planets forming out of debris... 476 00:45:38,398 --> 00:45:41,634 ...being born before our eyes. 477 00:45:49,142 --> 00:45:53,413 Asteroids and comets everywhere 478 00:45:57,550 --> 00:46:00,353 We could almost be looking at our own solar system... 479 00:46:00,520 --> 00:46:02,255 ...billions of years ago. 480 00:46:02,422 --> 00:46:05,325 With comets delivering the building blocks of life... 481 00:46:05,491 --> 00:46:07,961 ...to these young planets. 482 00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:31,918 At the center of all the action, a star smaller than our sun... 483 00:46:32,085 --> 00:46:34,621 ...still in its infancy. 484 00:46:34,787 --> 00:46:39,325 Any life in this solar system would be primitive at best 485 00:46:47,100 --> 00:46:50,903 There must be more mature solar systems out here... 486 00:46:51,070 --> 00:46:55,408 ...But finding them is like looking for a needle in a cosmic haystack 487 00:47:04,617 --> 00:47:07,320 Twenty light years from Earth. 488 00:47:09,155 --> 00:47:12,225 Star Gliese 581 489 00:47:17,363 --> 00:47:20,466 It's about the same age as our sun. 490 00:47:29,409 --> 00:47:33,179 This planet is just the right distance from its sun 491 00:47:33,680 --> 00:47:39,352 Any closer and water would boil away, any further and it would freeze 492 00:47:40,019 --> 00:47:43,556 Ideal conditions for life to emerge 493 00:47:49,062 --> 00:47:53,900 And if a comet has struck, delivering water and organic materials... 494 00:47:54,067 --> 00:47:59,605 ...then life, complex beings like us, even civilizations like our own... 495 00:47:59,772 --> 00:48:03,109 ...could be down there right now 496 00:48:08,047 --> 00:48:11,017 They could be tuning into our TV signals... 497 00:48:11,184 --> 00:48:14,354 ...watching shows from 20 years ago. 498 00:48:21,227 --> 00:48:23,663 But until we devise a way of communicating... 499 00:48:23,830 --> 00:48:29,402 ...over these vast distances, all we can do is speculate 500 00:48:30,069 --> 00:48:33,473 Us and them, living parallel lives... 501 00:48:33,639 --> 00:48:36,876 ...unaware of each other's existence. 502 00:48:42,181 --> 00:48:46,552 Unless life has come and gone 503 00:48:57,230 --> 00:48:59,732 That's the problem with comets. 504 00:48:59,899 --> 00:49:03,903 They're creators and destroyers... 505 00:49:04,070 --> 00:49:07,707 ...as the dinosaurs the hard way 506 00:49:09,409 --> 00:49:12,111 This is the needle in the cosmic haystack... 507 00:49:12,278 --> 00:49:16,849 ...the closest we've come to a habitable solar system like our own... 508 00:49:17,016 --> 00:49:19,485 ...but it's a chance encounter. 509 00:49:20,019 --> 00:49:21,154 There could be hundreds... 510 00:49:21,320 --> 00:49:27,026 ...millions more solar systems like this out there or none at all. 511 00:49:37,770 --> 00:49:40,907 Some of the atmosphere on this planet, Bellerophon... 512 00:49:41,073 --> 00:49:44,944 ...is being boiled away by its nearby star. 513 00:49:56,422 --> 00:49:59,425 From Earth, we can't see planets this far out. 514 00:49:59,592 --> 00:50:03,930 They're obscured by the brilliance of their neighboring stars. 515 00:50:05,231 --> 00:50:09,535 But the planets have a minute gravitational pull on those stars. 516 00:50:09,702 --> 00:50:14,707 Measure these tiny movements and we can prove they exit 517 00:50:18,611 --> 00:50:22,882 That's how we tracked down Bellerophon in the 1990's... 518 00:50:24,650 --> 00:50:27,954 ...and hundreds of other distant planets 519 00:50:32,792 --> 00:50:36,362 Sixty-five light years from Earth... 520 00:50:36,863 --> 00:50:41,100 ...turn on your TV here and you'd pick up Hitler's Berlin Olympics 521 00:51:02,522 --> 00:51:05,291 The twin stars of Algol. 522 00:51:05,458 --> 00:51:08,895 Known to the ancients as the demon star 523 00:51:10,463 --> 00:51:15,868 From Earth, it appears to blink as one star passes across the other. 524 00:51:16,302 --> 00:51:18,905 Up close, it's even stranger. 525 00:51:19,071 --> 00:51:22,542 One star is being sucked towards the other 526 00:51:26,812 --> 00:51:29,015 Almost 100 light years from home... 527 00:51:29,181 --> 00:51:33,486 ...faint whispers from one of the first ever radio broadcasts 528 00:51:50,169 --> 00:51:54,307 From here on out, it's as if the Earth never existed 529 00:51:59,445 --> 00:52:02,381 Feels like a life time since we stood on that beach... 530 00:52:02,548 --> 00:52:08,454 ...looking up at the sky, wondering where and how we fit in 531 00:52:10,189 --> 00:52:13,359 We've learned one thing for sure 532 00:52:13,526 --> 00:52:18,064 The universe is too bizarre, too startling... 533 00:52:18,564 --> 00:52:21,667 ...for us to guess what lies ahead 534 00:52:26,639 --> 00:52:31,410 Deep inside our galaxy, the Milky Way 535 00:52:31,844 --> 00:52:36,582 Pinpricks of light that have inspired a thousand and one tales 536 00:52:38,017 --> 00:52:43,456 The Seven Sisters, the daughters of the ancient Greek god, Atlas 537 00:52:43,623 --> 00:52:46,559 ...transformed into star to comfort their father... 538 00:52:46,726 --> 00:52:50,763 ...as he held the heavens on his shoulders 539 00:52:57,036 --> 00:53:00,673 And this giant, Betelgeuse 540 00:53:00,840 --> 00:53:04,377 The brightest, biggest star we've seen so far. 541 00:53:04,543 --> 00:53:08,381 Six hundred times wider than our sun 542 00:53:20,426 --> 00:53:24,930 But this, it's not a star... 543 00:53:27,600 --> 00:53:32,371 ...not a planet, not like anything we've seen. 544 00:53:40,813 --> 00:53:45,518 A ghostly specter, more than 1,300 light years from Earth... 545 00:53:45,885 --> 00:53:48,888 ...Orion's dark cloud 546 00:53:51,724 --> 00:53:55,261 Dust and gas shrouding us 547 00:54:06,105 --> 00:54:11,644 There, deep inside, a light, pulling the dust and gas towards it... 548 00:54:11,811 --> 00:54:16,549 ...heating up, merging into a ball of burning hot gas. 549 00:54:16,716 --> 00:54:21,420 Like a star, like our sun in miniature. 550 00:54:22,488 --> 00:54:24,757 Inside, it's millions of degrees 551 00:54:24,924 --> 00:54:28,227 So hot, it's beginning to trigger nuclear reactions... 552 00:54:28,394 --> 00:54:31,363 ...the kind that keep our sun shining... 553 00:54:31,530 --> 00:54:36,435 ...making energy, radiation, light 554 00:54:36,602 --> 00:54:40,372 A star is being born. 555 00:54:58,057 --> 00:55:02,828 Orion's dark cloud is a vast star factory 556 00:55:06,599 --> 00:55:10,836 We're witnessing the birth of the future universe. 557 00:55:16,742 --> 00:55:19,812 We've come to expect destruction... 558 00:55:19,979 --> 00:55:24,316 ...but this is one of the universe's greatest acts of creation. 559 00:55:24,483 --> 00:55:26,385 Star birth. 560 00:55:35,227 --> 00:55:38,030 This doesn't look right 561 00:55:47,139 --> 00:55:52,511 Jets of gas exploding out with tremendous force... 562 00:55:52,678 --> 00:55:56,982 ...blasting dust and gas out for millions of miles. 563 00:56:05,691 --> 00:56:11,664 It's unbelievably violent and creative 564 00:56:14,800 --> 00:56:16,502 Nebula... 565 00:56:16,669 --> 00:56:22,508 ...vast glowing clouds of gas hanging in space. 566 00:56:22,675 --> 00:56:28,247 With no wind out here, they'll take thousands of years to disperse 567 00:56:31,016 --> 00:56:34,954 They seem to be forming a vast stellar sculpture. 568 00:56:35,120 --> 00:56:39,325 Nature is more than a scientist, an engineer... 569 00:56:39,491 --> 00:56:43,896 ...it's an artist on the grandest of scales 570 00:56:51,337 --> 00:56:56,141 And this is a masterpiece 571 00:57:00,546 --> 00:57:06,151 Stars are born, grow up, and then, then what? 572 00:57:06,318 --> 00:57:08,487 Do they die? 573 00:57:08,654 --> 00:57:12,992 Do they slip quietly into the night or go out with a bang? 574 00:57:18,764 --> 00:57:24,236 Somewhere between here and the edge of the universe lies the answer. 575 00:57:29,742 --> 00:57:32,611 Luminous clouds, suspended in space... 576 00:57:32,778 --> 00:57:36,916 ...encircling what was once a star like our own sun. 577 00:57:38,617 --> 00:57:42,421 All that's left of it are these brightly colored gases... 578 00:57:42,588 --> 00:57:46,425 ...elements formed by nuclear reactions deep inside... 579 00:57:46,592 --> 00:57:49,662 ...released into space on its death 580 00:57:49,828 --> 00:57:53,632 Green and violet, hydrogen and helium... 581 00:57:53,799 --> 00:57:57,002 ...the raw materials of the universe. 582 00:57:57,636 --> 00:58:00,706 Red and blue, nitrogen and oxygen... 583 00:58:00,873 --> 00:58:03,976 ...the building blocks of life on Earth 584 00:58:07,146 --> 00:58:11,784 For us to live, stars like this had to die 585 00:58:13,786 --> 00:58:18,257 Every atom in our body was produced by nuclear fusion... 586 00:58:19,024 --> 00:58:23,362 ...in stars that died long before the Earth was even born. 587 00:58:24,663 --> 00:58:27,733 We are all the stuff of stars 588 00:58:28,801 --> 00:58:33,439 Our family tree begins here 589 00:58:54,526 --> 00:58:58,897 At its heart, the ghost of a star... 590 00:58:59,531 --> 00:59:01,467 ...a white swarf 591 00:59:01,633 --> 00:59:05,604 White, hot, small... 592 00:59:05,771 --> 00:59:08,574 ...but unbelievably dense 593 00:59:09,141 --> 00:59:13,078 In the star's dying moments, its atoms fused and squeezed together 594 00:59:13,245 --> 00:59:19,752 ...making it so dense that just a teaspoon of this white dwarf would weigh 1 ton 595 00:59:24,556 --> 00:59:28,227 It's a chilling premonition of our sun's fate. 596 00:59:28,394 --> 00:59:32,531 Six billion years from now, it will become a white dwarf 597 00:59:33,132 --> 00:59:36,869 Its death will herald the end of life on earth 598 00:59:38,370 --> 00:59:42,007 Makes you wonder how many other world have come and gone... 599 00:59:42,174 --> 00:59:47,780 ...celestial stories left untold, lost forever. 600 00:59:51,383 --> 00:59:55,888 But the greatest story of them all is still to be told 601 00:59:58,857 --> 01:00:02,694 We must go back through time to the very first chapter... 602 01:00:02,861 --> 01:00:06,532 ...to learn how the universe began. 603 01:00:10,669 --> 01:00:14,540 The scattered remains of dead star... 604 01:00:14,907 --> 01:00:17,209 ...the Crab Nebula 605 01:00:19,311 --> 01:00:25,284 Six thousand light years from home, deep inside a stellar graveyard 606 01:00:26,251 --> 01:00:27,619 We've learnt so much 607 01:00:27,786 --> 01:00:31,657 ...seen things we'd never have believed possible 608 01:00:32,624 --> 01:00:37,596 Now, sights like this, wonders once beyond imagination... 609 01:00:37,763 --> 01:00:40,099 ...we take in our stride 610 01:00:42,734 --> 01:00:45,370 We're ready to face whatever lies ahead 611 01:00:45,537 --> 01:00:50,609 Determined to reach the edge of the universe 612 01:00:53,479 --> 01:00:58,117 This is the calm after the storm, after an massive explosion... 613 01:00:58,283 --> 01:01:04,456 ...a supernova that turned a star into dust and gas 614 01:01:12,631 --> 01:01:14,466 The eye of the storm. 615 01:01:14,633 --> 01:01:19,404 A spinning pulsating star, a pulsar. 616 01:01:23,242 --> 01:01:28,313 The gravity has squeezed the giant star's core down to this 617 01:01:31,450 --> 01:01:36,655 It's just 12 miles across, unimaginably dense 618 01:01:36,822 --> 01:01:39,825 One pinhead of this would weigh hundreds... 619 01:01:39,992 --> 01:01:42,694 ...maybe millions of tons. 620 01:01:42,861 --> 01:01:46,632 And as it shrank , like a figure skater spinning on the spot... 621 01:01:46,798 --> 01:01:49,401 ...arms outstretched , then pulling them in... 622 01:01:49,568 --> 01:01:52,437 ...it began to spin faster. 623 01:01:55,007 --> 01:02:00,846 Two beams of light, energy, radiation, spinning 30 times a second 624 01:02:01,013 --> 01:02:04,650 Powering the huge cloud of dust and gas 625 01:02:06,685 --> 01:02:12,024 There's so much radiation here, more even than on the Sun. 626 01:02:18,797 --> 01:02:22,968 That was easily the deadliest thing we've encountered so far 627 01:02:28,874 --> 01:02:31,577 Once, it would have terrified us 628 01:02:33,478 --> 01:02:35,581 But now we realize that without the dangers... 629 01:02:35,747 --> 01:02:38,116 ...there'd be no wonders 630 01:02:39,551 --> 01:02:43,488 Without the nightmares, there'd be no dreams 631 01:02:55,200 --> 01:02:57,869 Getting a strange sensation 632 01:02:59,137 --> 01:03:03,175 A feeling as though there's something bad out here... 633 01:03:03,609 --> 01:03:06,278 ...a malevolent presence. 634 01:03:06,578 --> 01:03:09,481 The one thing we didn't want to encounter 635 01:03:09,648 --> 01:03:15,254 Impossibly black, blotting out the stars behind it 636 01:03:16,054 --> 01:03:19,625 637 01:03:22,127 --> 01:03:25,230 ...the remains of a giant star... 638 01:03:26,398 --> 01:03:28,500 ...a black hole. 639 01:03:33,972 --> 01:03:37,009 Far denser than a pulsar... 640 01:03:38,443 --> 01:03:41,179 ...and impossible to resist 641 01:03:46,251 --> 01:03:50,722 Its gravity is so intense, not even light can escape. 642 01:03:59,564 --> 01:04:02,768 This asteroid, it's a lump of solid rock... 643 01:04:02,934 --> 01:04:07,673 ...but it's actually stretching, being dragged towards the gaping hole 644 01:04:07,839 --> 01:04:11,343 Inside, there's no matter as we know it. 645 01:04:11,510 --> 01:04:17,983 No time, no space, all the rules of physics collapse. 646 01:04:27,492 --> 01:04:29,795 The asteroid is gone 647 01:04:30,529 --> 01:04:33,065 Nobody really know where 648 01:04:33,732 --> 01:04:37,502 This is the edge of human understanding 649 01:04:37,669 --> 01:04:41,673 There could be millions of black hole creeping around our galaxy... 650 01:04:41,840 --> 01:04:45,310 ...more perhaps than all the stars in the sky... 651 01:04:45,477 --> 01:04:49,748 ...But we wouldn't see them until it was too late. 652 01:04:56,588 --> 01:04:59,958 Like this star, spiraling... 653 01:05:00,125 --> 01:05:04,262 ...disappearing, down an invisible sinkhole 654 01:05:05,063 --> 01:05:08,700 Who's to say we don't live inside a vast black hole... 655 01:05:08,867 --> 01:05:12,137 ...that the whole universe isn't inside one right now... 656 01:05:12,304 --> 01:05:14,239 ...inside another universe? 657 01:05:14,406 --> 01:05:18,810 Think about it for too long and your mind reels 658 01:05:20,412 --> 01:05:25,317 Sometimes it feels like the more we see, the less we know. 659 01:05:32,190 --> 01:05:36,261 And we're still in our own galaxy, the Milky Way.. 660 01:05:38,663 --> 01:05:43,668 ...the vastness of the universe beyond still lies ahead 661 01:05:44,870 --> 01:05:51,042 The wonders, the dangers, the secrets, they're out there... 662 01:05:53,044 --> 01:05:56,348 ...waiting to be discovered 663 01:06:08,593 --> 01:06:13,098 Seven thousand light years from home 664 01:06:14,232 --> 01:06:17,936 It's as though we're in a forest thick with trees. 665 01:06:18,103 --> 01:06:23,074 Each so beautiful, so fascinating, it's impossible to look beyond 666 01:06:23,241 --> 01:06:26,111 ...to see the bigger picture. 667 01:06:26,278 --> 01:06:29,381 We have to find a way through... 668 01:06:29,548 --> 01:06:33,185 ...to reach the clearing at the galaxy's edge 669 01:06:40,559 --> 01:06:44,830 But faced with sights like this, its hard to leave 670 01:06:45,997 --> 01:06:52,070 A colossal glowing cloud topped by these great towers of dust 671 01:06:52,237 --> 01:06:54,906 ...the Pillars of Creation 672 01:06:55,073 --> 01:06:58,009 Like a gateway into the unknown. 673 01:06:59,578 --> 01:07:03,982 A star factory packed with embryonic star systems... 674 01:07:04,850 --> 01:07:08,420 ...each larger than our solar system. 675 01:07:18,930 --> 01:07:24,369 we have to resist its siren song, tear ourselves away... 676 01:07:24,703 --> 01:07:28,173 ...to carry on towards the edge of the galaxy 677 01:07:44,389 --> 01:07:49,327 Dazzled by the Milk Way's beauty, we've been blinded to its terrors 678 01:07:49,494 --> 01:07:53,498 ...and strayed into a cosmic minefield 679 01:07:54,866 --> 01:07:57,769 Like an explosion in slow motion. 680 01:07:57,936 --> 01:08:02,807 A massive star, millions of times brighter than our sun. 681 01:08:03,575 --> 01:08:06,177 It's going into meltdown 682 01:08:07,679 --> 01:08:09,781 The fuel that sustains it is running out... 683 01:08:09,948 --> 01:08:13,652 ...the nuclear reactions that power it winding down 684 01:08:13,818 --> 01:08:17,289 We're watching its death throes 685 01:08:35,807 --> 01:08:40,312 An even bigger, dangerously unstable star 686 01:08:40,478 --> 01:08:43,248 But this one's about to explode 687 01:08:44,015 --> 01:08:45,650 And when a star this big dies... 688 01:08:45,817 --> 01:08:49,955 ...it's a hundred times more violent than a supernova. 689 01:08:51,022 --> 01:08:55,360 We've stumbled into the most violent star death of all... 690 01:08:55,527 --> 01:08:57,796 ...a hypernova. 691 01:09:09,975 --> 01:09:14,546 The core's collapsed, it's becoming a black hole. 692 01:09:19,084 --> 01:09:22,087 And that's the shock wave, surging through the star... 693 01:09:22,253 --> 01:09:25,757 ...ripping its outer layers into space. 694 01:09:52,350 --> 01:09:55,754 Deadly hypernovas, frozen comets... 695 01:09:55,920 --> 01:10:01,826 ...scorched planets, white dwarves, red giants 696 01:10:02,927 --> 01:10:07,098 Tiny drops in a vast pool of white light... 697 01:10:08,400 --> 01:10:13,038 ...our home galaxy, the Milky Way 698 01:10:14,973 --> 01:10:17,676 We wanted to know where we fit in 699 01:10:19,177 --> 01:10:21,279 Here's our answer. 700 01:10:25,950 --> 01:10:28,953 Civilizations, past and present 701 01:10:29,120 --> 01:10:31,923 Everyone that's ever lived 702 01:10:32,757 --> 01:10:36,061 The smallest bug, the highest mountain... 703 01:10:36,227 --> 01:10:42,100 ...all of it invisible, not even a tiny speck. 704 01:10:46,805 --> 01:10:51,943 Our home is a minor planet orbiting an insignificant star. 705 01:10:52,110 --> 01:10:56,848 It is disappeared right now, who would even notice? 706 01:10:59,050 --> 01:11:04,022 And yet, so far, we've found nowhere else we would rather live... 707 01:11:04,189 --> 01:11:06,591 ...nowhere we could live 708 01:11:07,926 --> 01:11:10,328 It's only now, far from home... 709 01:11:10,495 --> 01:11:14,032 ...that we're beginning to truly appreciate it. 710 01:11:21,072 --> 01:11:26,311 Look at all these stars, hundreds of thousands of them 711 01:11:29,080 --> 01:11:35,253 Surely one of them, more than one, must be capable of supporting life. 712 01:11:58,810 --> 01:12:04,516 Maybe here in this swarm of stars, the Great Cluster 713 01:12:05,283 --> 01:12:09,487 Back in the 1970's, astronomers sent a message in this direction 714 01:12:09,654 --> 01:12:14,626 ...detailing the structure of our DNA and our solar system's location 715 01:12:15,393 --> 01:12:21,065 But the message won't arrive here for another 25,000 years. 716 01:12:25,336 --> 01:12:28,339 We haven't found alien life yet 717 01:12:28,506 --> 01:12:30,975 But neither have we found any reason to believe... 718 01:12:31,142 --> 01:12:34,779 ...it isn't out there somewhere. 719 01:12:35,213 --> 01:12:36,714 There's an equation devised... 720 01:12:36,881 --> 01:12:42,086 ...to estimate the number of other advanced civilizations 721 01:12:42,253 --> 01:12:44,622 The result is startling. 722 01:12:45,223 --> 01:12:50,762 There could be millions of civilizations just in our own galaxy. 723 01:13:06,144 --> 01:13:10,181 Everything we've seen so far is inside the Milk Way 724 01:13:12,917 --> 01:13:18,122 Now we're ready to leave our home galaxy... 725 01:13:18,289 --> 01:13:21,726 ...to enter intergalactic space. 726 01:13:22,227 --> 01:13:27,699 Here's our chance to solve the ultimate mystery... 727 01:13:27,866 --> 01:13:32,737 ...and experience the moment of creation. 728 01:13:44,482 --> 01:13:46,451 Beyond the Milk Way... 729 01:13:46,618 --> 01:13:49,821 ...through the vast expanse between galaxies. 730 01:13:49,988 --> 01:13:55,960 Against all the odds, we've made it to intergalactic space 731 01:14:05,837 --> 01:14:08,606 Out here, there's no horizon in sight. 732 01:14:08,773 --> 01:14:14,045 Even the closest galaxies are hundreds of thousands of light years away 733 01:14:15,413 --> 01:14:17,615 The remains of galaxies ripped apart... 734 01:14:17,782 --> 01:14:21,719 ...By the Milky Way's huge gravitational pull... 735 01:14:21,886 --> 01:14:25,823 ...scattered among nothing 736 01:14:30,094 --> 01:14:34,699 This is as close as the universe gets to a perfect vacuum. 737 01:14:34,866 --> 01:14:37,769 But even this isn't totally empty. 738 01:14:37,936 --> 01:14:43,041 There are thin wisps of gas, tine traces of dust 739 01:14:43,207 --> 01:14:47,412 And something else, dark matter 740 01:14:48,546 --> 01:14:50,782 So mysterious, we can't see it... 741 01:14:50,949 --> 01:14:55,853 ...feel it, taste it, touch it or even measure it. 742 01:14:56,554 --> 01:15:00,291 Yet so common, it could make up over 90 percent... 743 01:15:00,458 --> 01:15:03,494 ...of all the matter in the universe. 744 01:15:03,661 --> 01:15:05,530 If dark matter does exist.. 745 01:15:05,697 --> 01:15:08,866 ...it means there's no such thing as empty space. 746 01:15:09,033 --> 01:15:13,438 Even out here, we're surrounded by matter 747 01:15:13,604 --> 01:15:17,775 We think it exists because of its apparent hold on galaxies 748 01:15:17,942 --> 01:15:22,580 Like this one, the Large Magellanic Cloud 749 01:15:27,085 --> 01:15:31,689 A 6-billion-year journey in today's fastest spacecraft 750 01:15:31,856 --> 01:15:34,926 ...160 thousand light years from the Milky Way... 751 01:15:35,093 --> 01:15:38,396 ...at the edge of its gravitational reach 752 01:15:39,097 --> 01:15:44,002 This galaxy should spin off into space, but something is holding it here... 753 01:15:44,168 --> 01:15:49,607 ...something invisible, powerful, dark matter 754 01:15:51,976 --> 01:15:57,415 Stars, clusters of stars, nebulae... 755 01:15:57,582 --> 01:16:01,019 ...it's a vast astronomical treasure trove. 756 01:16:05,823 --> 01:16:10,728 But look at this, it's like a string of gleaming pearls. 757 01:16:10,895 --> 01:16:12,663 It's a fireball... 758 01:16:12,830 --> 01:16:16,601 ...expanding out from what must have been a massive explosion. 759 01:16:16,768 --> 01:16:18,903 A supernova. 760 01:16:20,772 --> 01:16:24,976 So bright that when light from the explosion reached Earth 20 years ago... 761 01:16:25,143 --> 01:16:28,012 ...it was visible to the naked eye 762 01:16:28,646 --> 01:16:31,682 And so violent, it triggered a string of nuclear reactions 763 01:16:31,849 --> 01:16:35,686 ...forcing atoms together, creating new elements... 764 01:16:35,853 --> 01:16:42,527 ...gold, silver, platinum, blasting them out into space. 765 01:16:47,665 --> 01:16:50,034 The gold in the ring on you finger... 766 01:16:50,201 --> 01:16:53,337 ...was forged in a massive supernova like this... 767 01:16:53,504 --> 01:16:57,942 ...trillions of miles away, billions of years ago. 768 01:17:00,178 --> 01:17:04,348 Before we left home, the universe seemed desperate... 769 01:17:04,515 --> 01:17:08,352 ...something out there, up in the sky. 770 01:17:09,020 --> 01:17:10,488 But now we know better. 771 01:17:10,655 --> 01:17:15,593 We are the universe, and it is within us 772 01:17:22,033 --> 01:17:26,771 It's comforting to remember as we venture through this abyss. 773 01:17:27,638 --> 01:17:29,874 Further and further 774 01:17:33,411 --> 01:17:35,880 Faster and faster 775 01:17:43,187 --> 01:17:49,393 The Andromeda Galaxy two and half million light years away 776 01:17:50,394 --> 01:17:53,798 It's racing through space... 777 01:17:54,799 --> 01:18:00,404 ...everything blown apart, like shrapnel in an explosion. 778 01:18:00,571 --> 01:18:02,373 We're seeing this galaxy as it was... 779 01:18:02,540 --> 01:18:08,312 ...when our ape-like ancestors first walked on the African plains 780 01:18:18,156 --> 01:18:23,060 Further through space, and further back in time 781 01:18:23,227 --> 01:18:26,797 Hold on. This doesn't look right 782 01:18:26,964 --> 01:18:30,668 A whole galaxy exploding? 783 01:18:31,669 --> 01:18:35,173 The only thing large enough to cause an explosion on this scale... 784 01:18:35,339 --> 01:18:38,042 ...is another galaxy. 785 01:18:39,610 --> 01:18:42,547 It looks like the end of the world 786 01:18:44,282 --> 01:18:48,519 But this galaxy won't die, it will be reborn. 787 01:18:48,686 --> 01:18:52,290 A new shape, perhaps even new stars... 788 01:18:52,456 --> 01:18:57,361 ...as dust and gas collide, creating friction, shockwaves... 789 01:18:57,528 --> 01:19:00,565 ...triggering the birth of stars. 790 01:19:07,305 --> 01:19:13,411 There's order in this chaos, a pattern behind the infinite variety... 791 01:19:13,578 --> 01:19:19,817 ...an endless cycle of birth and death, creation and destruction 792 01:19:19,984 --> 01:19:23,821 It's a pattern woven through the vast fabric of space... 793 01:19:23,988 --> 01:19:27,658 ...that binds each of these galaxies 794 01:19:29,293 --> 01:19:30,895 There are billions of galaxies... 795 01:19:31,062 --> 01:19:35,399 ...each with billions, even trillions of stars. 796 01:19:35,833 --> 01:19:38,102 Maybe more stars than there are grains of sand... 797 01:19:38,269 --> 01:19:40,805 ...on all the beaches on Earth. 798 01:19:49,780 --> 01:19:53,351 We're finally beginning to see the big picture... 799 01:19:53,884 --> 01:19:57,655 ...and it's grander than we ever imagined 800 01:19:59,790 --> 01:20:03,995 This galaxy, the huge Pinwheel Galaxy... 801 01:20:04,161 --> 01:20:07,798 ...is so far from Earth that if we send a message home now... 802 01:20:07,965 --> 01:20:11,202 ...it will take 27 million years to get there. 803 01:20:11,369 --> 01:20:14,739 Who knows whether our species, our planet... 804 01:20:14,905 --> 01:20:18,409 ...will still be around to receive it? 805 01:20:32,123 --> 01:20:35,760 We travel on, back through time 806 01:20:37,528 --> 01:20:41,065 Past the point where the dinosaurs were wiped out... 807 01:20:42,066 --> 01:20:46,504 ...past the moment where the first creatures crawled onto land 808 01:20:57,048 --> 01:21:00,284 Two billion light years from home. 809 01:21:00,451 --> 01:21:04,889 Closing in on the edge of the universe 810 01:21:05,056 --> 01:21:09,026 Going back to the beginning of time 811 01:21:09,193 --> 01:21:14,298 This isn't a galaxy. It's brighter than a hundred galaxies 812 01:21:14,465 --> 01:21:19,670 A blinding beam of energy surging for trillions of miles. 813 01:21:24,208 --> 01:21:28,179 Something this big, this bright, must be incredibly powerful 814 01:21:31,816 --> 01:21:37,288 Experience tells us, out here, power equals danger 815 01:21:38,289 --> 01:21:43,260 It looks like a quasar, the deadliest thing in the universe 816 01:21:46,330 --> 01:21:49,967 Our journey could be over 817 01:21:57,575 --> 01:22:01,612 The deadliest, most powerful thing in the universe. 818 01:22:01,779 --> 01:22:03,714 A quasar. 819 01:22:04,348 --> 01:22:08,285 A swirling cauldron of superheated gas 820 01:22:19,730 --> 01:22:25,035 This beast has a heart of darkness, a super-massive black hole... 821 01:22:25,202 --> 01:22:28,439 ...as heavy as a billion suns. 822 01:22:42,820 --> 01:22:45,589 It's ripping apart whole stars... 823 01:22:45,756 --> 01:22:50,127 ...devouring them until they're nothing... 824 01:22:50,294 --> 01:22:54,165 ...lost forever from the visible universe 825 01:23:08,879 --> 01:23:11,649 We think, we hope, we pray... 826 01:23:11,816 --> 01:23:14,885 ...we've seen the worst the universe can throw at us. 827 01:23:15,052 --> 01:23:17,855 But no one can know what lies ahead 828 01:23:34,472 --> 01:23:38,309 We'll need to go further, go faster 829 01:23:52,656 --> 01:23:55,693 Eight billion light years from home. 830 01:23:55,860 --> 01:23:59,663 More galaxies, but these look different 831 01:23:59,830 --> 01:24:04,201 Ragged, small, close together 832 01:24:05,236 --> 01:24:07,238 We're so far back in time... 833 01:24:07,404 --> 01:24:11,876 ...we're seeing these galaxies as they were before the Earth was born 834 01:24:12,576 --> 01:24:16,046 They're still young, still growing. 835 01:24:18,749 --> 01:24:23,287 We're getting close to where and how it all began 836 01:24:36,400 --> 01:24:38,669 Look at the galaxies now. 837 01:24:38,836 --> 01:24:44,041 They're more like primitive plankton floating in a vast dark ocean 838 01:24:51,916 --> 01:24:53,884 Clouds of dust and gas.. 839 01:24:54,051 --> 01:24:59,823 ...dancing , twirling, merging to make embryonic galaxies. 840 01:25:23,280 --> 01:25:25,449 They're disappearing 841 01:25:27,651 --> 01:25:31,488 We've gone back before the stars were born... 842 01:25:33,390 --> 01:25:36,760 ...into a cosmic dark age 843 01:25:39,897 --> 01:25:44,368 And before that, light, the afterglow... 844 01:25:44,535 --> 01:25:50,307 ...from the massive explosion that created the known universe 845 01:26:06,657 --> 01:26:08,525 This is it. 846 01:26:09,126 --> 01:26:11,128 We've made it 847 01:26:11,729 --> 01:26:14,898 The edge of universe 848 01:26:16,033 --> 01:26:19,737 ...80 Billion trillion miles from home... 849 01:26:19,903 --> 01:26:23,607 ...13 and a half billion years ago 850 01:26:27,411 --> 01:26:30,414 The very instant of the Big Bang... 851 01:26:30,581 --> 01:26:35,452 ...the most violent, most creative moment in history. 852 01:26:35,619 --> 01:26:40,424 Everything that's ever happened follows from this moment. 853 01:26:49,266 --> 01:26:54,972 Every religion, every culture, has pondered it 854 01:26:56,874 --> 01:27:02,946 But we still don't known what sparked this act of creation or why 855 01:27:06,550 --> 01:27:09,353 This is where our journey ends 856 01:27:10,087 --> 01:27:12,790 ...and the universe begins 857 01:27:25,469 --> 01:27:31,241 An infinitely hot, small, dense point erupts 858 01:27:42,019 --> 01:27:48,358 Creating space, time, matter, our universe itself. 859 01:27:50,160 --> 01:27:53,363 First, it's the size of a subatomic particle. 860 01:27:53,530 --> 01:27:55,899 The tiniest traction of a second later 861 01:27:56,066 --> 01:27:59,503 ...it's big enough to hold in the palm of your hand 862 01:27:59,670 --> 01:28:03,674 Moments later, it's the size of the Earth. 863 01:28:13,217 --> 01:28:17,354 Today, the light from the Big Bang is still spreading out 864 01:28:17,521 --> 01:28:20,958 You can hear it as a radio hiss 865 01:28:24,728 --> 01:28:28,565 See it as television static. 866 01:28:40,577 --> 01:28:43,981 All the wonders we've seen on our journey... 867 01:28:44,148 --> 01:28:47,551 ...are sparks flying out from the Big Bang. 868 01:28:47,718 --> 01:28:52,556 Galaxies, stars, planets... 869 01:28:52,723 --> 01:28:55,692 ...all cosmic debris 870 01:28:58,796 --> 01:29:01,398 We go forward through time... 871 01:29:02,933 --> 01:29:06,069 ...riding the blast wave 872 01:29:21,018 --> 01:29:25,756 Until we reach another cooling cinder... 873 01:29:25,923 --> 01:29:30,227 ...swirling in the afterglow of the Big Bang. 874 01:29:36,099 --> 01:29:38,168 We're back where we started 875 01:29:38,335 --> 01:29:39,937 Home. 876 01:29:40,671 --> 01:29:44,174 Only now can we really know it. 877 01:29:44,708 --> 01:29:48,946 Smaller, more fragile than we ever imagine 878 01:29:49,112 --> 01:29:53,517 Destined to die swallowed by a dying sun 879 01:29:55,252 --> 01:29:59,456 But we shouldn't despair. We should rejoice 880 01:29:59,790 --> 01:30:04,261 We've managed to experience the wonders of the universe 881 01:30:05,429 --> 01:30:08,432 We should celebrate our achievements... 882 01:30:09,800 --> 01:30:13,537 ...and enjoy our moment in the sun 883 01:30:15,800 --> 01:30:17,537 www.chdtv.net 884 01:30:18,800 --> 01:30:29,537 翻译QSZHANG 校:面 谢谢观赏