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You have known for a long time that the universe is expanding.
人们很早就知道宇宙在膨胀
If you look at distant galaxies, they are moving away from us,
如果你看看遥远的星系，它们正在远离我们，
And the more distant galaxies are moving faster.
越远的星系移动的速度越快
So really, it’s not really an explosion of galaxies away from us;
所以这不是偶然现象
All galaxies are moving away from all the other galaxies.
所有的星系都离我们而去
Space itself is getting bigger.
空间本身就在膨胀
But you would expect that the expansion of the universe is something that will slow down.
但你也许会想膨胀速度会渐渐慢下来
These galaxies have gravity and they attract each other
毕竟各星系之间存在引力
So you would expect that the expansion of the universe will diminish with time.
所以膨胀到一定程度宇宙会收缩
So it was a big surprise in 1998 when we realized that the galaxies were actually speeding up.
而在1998年 科学家们观测到星系加速了
If you look at one galaxy, non-only it is moving away from us,
也就是说 星系不止在远离我们
But tomorrow it will be moving away from us faster.
而且在加速远离我们
This is what we call the acceleration of the universe.
这被我们称为宇宙加速膨胀
But we are not completely shocked,
但我们并没有被吓到
We have a good theoretical model handed down to us by Einstein.
我们有爱因斯坦的真传
The idea that even empty space has energy, what we call vacuum energy or dark energy.
他认为即使是真空也具有能量 也就是真空能量或暗能量
And this vacuum energy pushes space itself
暗能量迫使宇宙膨胀
and causes distant galaxies to move away from us faster and faster.
导致星系加速远离我们
That is where the acceleration comes from.
这就是膨胀的由来
So theoretical cosmologists are trying to understand what could be going on.
所以理论宇宙学家正试着推测接下来发生的事情
Is it really vacuum energy? Is some variation of that?
是不是因为暗能量 还是它的某种变体
Or is it even a modification of Einstein’s general relativity, our theory of gravity?
亦或是爱因斯坦的广义相对论或者万有引力理论需要修正
If vacuum energy is the right answer, the universe will continue to expand,
如果暗能量是正解 那么宇宙会继续膨胀下去
The galaxies will move away from us
星系会继续远离我们
and the universe will gradually become a lonelier, darker, emptier place.
宇宙最终会变成一片孤寂,黑暗的空间
