恒星考古工作围绕这个中心“我们是星尘”
The work of stellar archaeology really goes to the heart of the ‘we are stardust’
和‘我们是星球的孩子’的说法。你可能已经听说过，但
and ‘we are children of the stars’ statement. You’ve probably heard it all but what does
它真正意味着什么？我们所有的人类组成和生命的形式我们知道是
it actually mean? We are mostly made all humans and all life forms that we know of are made
大部分是由碳和一些非常少量的其它的元素构成的。
mostly of carbon and a bunch of other elements but in much lesser quantities. Where does
这些碳来自哪里呢？我们可以说它来自地球而这也确实是真的。
this carbon come from? Well you could say it comes from the Earth and yes that is true.
但它是怎样进入地球的呢？而这就是天文学的来源因为
But how did it get into the Earth right? And so that is where astronomy comes in because
它们是多样的所以被称作产生元素，重元素的核作用过程
there are multiple so called nuclear synthesis processes that create elements, heavy elements.
他们融合更轻的使之为更重的开始成为氢。四个氢原子一起
They fuse lighter ones into heavier ones starting with hydrogen. Four hydrogen atoms come together
和熔化成一个氦原子。而如果你使三个氦原子一起你会得到一个碳
and fuse into a helium atom. And if you throw three helium atoms together you get a carbon
原子核。而这就是碳怎样产生的和我们建立了碳多少
nucleus. And this is how carbon is created and we are establishing how much carbon was
产生多少在宇宙的各个时期和通过这个过程和类型
created at various times in the universe and through which processes and in which types
星球的类型和星球所发生进化的进化的阶段
of stars and what evolutionary phases of the stars this all happens.
而这就是我们怎样才能够拼凑这些宇宙化学演变
And so this is how we can piece together the chemical evolution of the universe that is
这真的是基于地球上所发生的生物的演变。和我发现它真的
really the basis for any biological evolution to take place on Earth. And I find it really
令人激动回到和看着生命成分的分离和我们
exciting to go back and really look at the constituents of life separately and we have
不仅仅已经研究了碳而且还有氮，磷，硫，氧和铁
studies not just carbon but also nitrogen and phosphorus and sulfur and oxygen and iron
这些不同的元素都在我们的恒星考古工作中。事实上，
and all the different elements through our work in stellar archaeology. And actually
你会想到我们的身体不仅仅是由碳组成的而且还有许多的
if you come to think about it the body is not just made of carbon but also a lot of
水。这些水中的氢和氧而我们知道氧也来自于
water. And there is hydrogen and oxygen in the water and well we know oxygen also comes
我们的星球。你添加另外的氦原子到碳原子里而你会得到氧
from the stars. You add another helium nucleus to a carbon nucleus and you get an oxygen
原子。至于水，是氢中的氢核。他们所有构成
nucleus. But the water, the hydrogen that’s just protons. They were all formed in the
宇宙大爆炸。所以我们只是带着我们身体重量的百分之十这就是宇宙大爆炸
Big Bang. So we actually carry about ten percent of our body weight in us that is Big Bang
材料。这些氢核在整个星球中循环了无数次但真正的
material. The protons were all recycled numerous times throughout the stars but the actual
氢核是在热的宇宙大爆炸中形成的当所有的亚原子粒子
protons were made in the hot Big Bang when all the subatomic particles actually came
集聚在一起和形成氢核还有中子时。因此我们不仅仅是孩子
together and formed protons and neutrons. And so that we are not just children of the
在星球中。事实上我们也是孩子在宇宙大爆炸中。我们认为这是好的
stars. Actually we are also children of the Big Bang. And I think it’s really nice once
偶尔反省我们意识到我们与宇宙的联系
in a while to reflect on that and really realize how much we are actually connected to the
宇宙。
cosmos.