James Webb Space Telescope takes center stage in 'Infinite Cosmos'. Author Ethan Siegel explains it all (exclusive)
《无限宇宙》讲到詹姆斯·韦布空间望远镜占据舞台中心。作者伊森·西格尔专门解释了这一切
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been an astonishing piece of technology for the advancement of humankind's understanding of the universe, and the source of awe-inspiring images of black holes, galaxies, and nebulae it's returned to scientists and astronomers since it was deployed into a solar orbit back in 2022.
美国宇航局的詹姆斯·韦布空间望远镜(JWST)的出现令人惊叹，它不仅有助于推动人类认识宇宙，还能搜集黑洞、星系和星云图像。2022年在太阳轨道上完成部署并于同年发送给科学家和天文学家图像。
"Infinite Cosmos: Visions From the James Webb Space Telescope" is a 224-page hardback published Oct. 8, 2024 from National Geographic that breaks down the history of this remarkable $10 billion observatory platform from conception to deployment, and reveals the inspired minds responsible for its engineering, construction, lift-off, and inspiring operational record.
2024年10月8日《国家地理》出版精装书《无限宇宙：詹姆斯·韦布空间望远镜的愿景》共计224页，本书详细介绍了这项非凡的天文平台从概念落到实处的过程，耗资100亿美元，并揭示了其工程、建造、发射和运营中的奇思妙想。
Written by astrophysicist and popular online science host Ethan Siegel ("Starts With a Bang") and including a comprehensive introduction by noted science author Brian Greene ("The Elegant Universe," "Until the End of Time"), "Infinite Cosmos" reveals the myriad ways the JWST has altered everyone's perceptions of the night sky with volumes of illuminating imagery straight from our mysterious heavens.
写过《从大爆炸开始》的天体物理学家和流行的网络科学博客伊森·西格尔（Ethan Siegel），以及写过《优雅的宇宙》、《直到时间的尽头》的著名科学作家布莱恩·格林（Brian Greene），这两人一起在《无限宇宙》上揭示了韦布望远镜能直接传递来自神秘宇宙的大量清晰图像这会改变人们对太空的看法。
Here's the official synopsis:
以下是官方简介：
"From the years of design and manufacturing through launch and deployment to the extraordinary images and the new science they inform, 'Infinite Cosmos' showcases the revelations coming from the James Webb Space Telescope — the sharpest planetary vistas and the deepest views of the cosmos humankind has ever seen.
“历经多年，詹姆斯·韦布空间望远镜一步步从设计、制造、发射、部署，到生成超凡图像，再到引发科学进步，《无限宇宙》展示了詹姆斯·韦伯空间望远镜给人们带来的启发——人类从未见过如此清晰的行星远景和如此深入的宇宙视图。
"Stars forming in clouds of cosmic dust. Jupiter and its moons sharper than we've ever seen them. Galaxies billions of years old. The first images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have electrified the world — and astonished veteran scientists with the wealth of information they reveal. In 'Infinite Cosmos,' National Geographic tells the 20-year saga of the telescope's development and the feats of science needed to send it into orbit around the sun, a million miles from Earth.
“恒星在宇宙尘埃云中形成。木星及其卫星看的更加清晰。星系有几十亿年的历史。詹姆斯·韦伯空间望远镜（JWST）拍摄的第一批图像震惊了世界——资深科学家为这些图像所揭示的丰富信息感到惊讶。《国家地理》在《无限宇宙》一书中讲述了詹姆斯·韦布空间望远镜20年的发展传奇，以及将它送入距离地球100万英里的太阳轨道上绕行的科学壮举。
"Page after page showcase more than 100 spectacular photographs picturing the cosmos as never seen before, from stardust coalescing in the Eagle Nebula's 'Pillars of Creation' to glittering galaxies, newly discovered exoplanets, deep-space fields of stars, and the planets of our solar system in vivid detail. The definitive printed record of these historic astronomical accomplishments, this is a book that inspires awe and admiration, perfect for space and aerospace enthusiasts, libraries, and anyone who looks up in wonder at the starry skies."
“100多张壮观的照片，一页又一页地展示着人们从未见过的宇宙：鹰状星云‘创世之柱’中的星尘影像、闪闪发光的星系、新发现的系外行星、恒星的深空领域以及我们所处的太阳系行星。人们将这些历史性天文成就明确记录并印刷成书，《无限宇宙》激发人们对宇宙的敬畏和钦佩，非常适合航空航天爱好者和任何仰望星空的人阅读，也适合图书馆收录。”
Siegel is well known in the scientific community and with this new JWST book he wanted to provide a more optimistic, alternative narrative to recent documentaries that negatively focused on the project's backstory, setbacks, and struggles.
西格尔在科学界很有名，通过这本新书，他希望为最近关注该项目背景故事、挫折和斗争的纪录片提供一种更乐观、另类的叙事。
"Aside from the beautiful images, JWST is really showcasing what humanity can do if we make a sustained investment even for something that we only get one shot at," Siegel tells Space.com. "It was this sustained effort over decades by thousands of people, and in particular I want to emphasize the role of scientists, engineers, and technicians as well as the role of private companies in partnership with NASA, the ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency. This had a lot of different moving parts that had to come together, work together, be checked, and tested over and over again, to ensure that when we get that one shot at launch, and that one shot at deployment, and that one shot at orbital insertion, that this is going to be a success.
西格尔在美国太空探索技术公司官网上说到：“除了美丽的图像之外，詹姆斯·韦布望远镜真正展示了如果一个持续投资的项目，即使只有一次机会，人们也能够做什么。”“这是数千人几十年来的持续努力，我特别强调科学家、工程师和技术人员的作用，以及与美国宇航局、欧空局和加拿大航天局合作的私营公司的作用。许多不同的运动部件必须聚集在一起，一起工作，一次又一次地检查和测试，以确保我们能够一次性成功发射、一次性成功部署和一次性成功插入轨道。
"Now in 2024, I'm going to tell you that in just two years into its science mission, we've learned things about the universe that we never expected, and that to me is the big story. Yeah, we built this observatory, we had our goals in mind, but the biggest news are the surprises we found. We built this all-purpose observatory with a larger diameter mirror and a more precise surface, a new set of wavelength capabilities, a brand new technology that enabled us to have a folding segmented mirror and a passively-cooled sunshield, new instruments that were superior designs to any designs before, and the cleanest clean room ever. You put it all together and you have an observatory that can go out and find these things we know how to look for. But you also have an observatory that has discovery potential."
“现在是2024年，我要告诉你，在詹姆斯·韦布太空望远镜科学任务开始的短短两年里，我们从未预料到会了解到这样的宇宙，这对我来说是一个宏大叙事。是的，我们建造了这个天文台，我们心中有我们的目标，但最大的新闻是我们发现的惊喜。我们建造了这个多用途天文台，采用了具有更大口径的高精度反射镜面，结合先进的光学波长覆盖能力，以及创新的光学系统设计技术如折叠式离轴三反光学系统和被动式冷却遮阳板技术，采用最新设计的天文观测仪器，相较于以往的任何设计都更为优越，同时配备有史以来最洁净的洁净室环境。把所有这些放在一起，就有了一个天文台，不仅能够高效地寻找我们已经知道如何观测的天体和现象，而且还具备发现新天体和未知宇宙现象的潜力。”
One thing Siegel wished to emphasize in this project is when the JWST was designed, it was calculated that the telescope would only offer up to a decade of longevity.
西格尔在这个项目中强调的一点是，詹姆斯·韦布望远镜在设计时，其预期寿命被计算为只有十年。
"That was based on saying, 'We're going to launch this telescope, we've got to burn it so it gets inserted into orbit, then we hope we have enough fuel left onboard to operate for five-to-ten years," he adds. "When crunch time came, the launch was so perfect that we now expect to get between 22 and 23 years of operation out of it.
西格尔补充说：“这是基于这样的说法：我们要发射这台望远镜，就必须烧燃料，这样它才能进入轨道，我们希望舱内有足够的燃料支持它运行五到十年。”“当关键时刻到来时，发射是如此完美，我们现在预计它将运行22到23年。
"I [...] watched this launch live and got up at like 4 a.m. on Christmas morning in 2021. I cried at one critical moment, when the spacecraft released the telescope and seconds later the solar panels started coming out. It wasn’t a mistake. It was an automated feature that said when you’re on a specific trajectory, deploy the solar panels. That first spacecraft burn that it was expecting to need to do where it would expend fuel to put it on the right course, it was unnecessary because the launch was so good. We didn’t even need to touch the 'steering wheel' at all once the rocket released it. That saved so much fuel that we can spend almost all of it on science operations. The biggest thing I hope to communicate with this book is to help people develop an awareness of what we're learning with the investments we've made.”
“我[……]在2021年圣诞节的清晨4点，我起床观看了詹姆斯·韦布望远镜的发射直播。当航天器成功释放望远镜，并且几秒钟后太阳能电池板开始展开时，我感动得流下了眼泪。这一过程并非偶然，而是一个精心设计的自动化程序，它确保了望远镜在进入特定轨道后能够顺利展开太阳能电池板。原本预计的第一次轨道修正燃烧，旨在消耗燃料以调整望远镜的轨道，但由于发射过程异常精确，这一步骤变得不再必要。一旦火箭释放了望远镜，我们甚至不需要进行任何额外的操作。这次发射的精确性为我们节省了大量的燃料，这意味着我们可以将这些燃料全部用于望远镜的科学操作。我希望通过这本书传达的核心信息是，帮助人们理解我们通过这项投资所获得的知识和成就。”
"Infinite Cosmos: Visions From the James Webb Space Telescope" is available now.
《无限宇宙：詹姆斯·韦布空间望远镜的景象》现已推出。
