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Do you ever feel like you were born too late?
你是否觉得自己出生得太晚了？
You may have the urge to be a great explorer,
你明明有当一名伟大的探险家的冲动，
but the age of cartographers mapping our continents' shores and mountains has long since passed.
但绘制大陆海岸和山脉地图的制图员时代早已过去。
Well, I have good new: there are still places that remain uncharted.
别慌，我这就给大家分享一个好消息：还是有地方没被涉足的。
You may just have to point your gaze upward to find them.
或许，你只需抬抬头就能看到它们。
And in fact, cosmographers recently revealed a massive wall of galaxies
事实上，宇宙学家最近刚揭露了一面巨大的星系墙，
shockingly close by that was hidden from our view until now.
距离我们非常近，却一直没有被我们看到，直到现在。
That's right, there are scientists called cosmographers,
没错，有种科学家真的就叫“宇宙学家”，
and like cartographers mapping out our planet,
他们就好比是绘制我们星球地图的制图家，
their goal is to map out the observable universe.
而他们的目标就是绘制出可观察到的所有宇宙。
From their findings we can learn more about the structures that make up everything we can see
他们的发现能够帮助我们更加深入地了解我们所能看到的一切是怎样的构成，
and gain insights into those features we can't see.
还能帮我们了解我们看不见的那些特征。
You may think that stars and galaxies are all scattered about randomly and in one sense you'd be right.
你或许也以为，恒星和星系都是随机散布的，从某种意义上来讲，这种看法也对。
On a large enough scale, the universe is uniformly spread out,
但放到足够大的层面，宇宙其实是均匀分布的，
and this is what's known as the cosmological principle.
这就是众所周知的“宇宙学原理”。
But as you zoom in, things start to become more distinct.
但当你放大，所有的东西都会开始变得更加清晰。
Stars, galaxies, and galaxy clusters bunch up and form enormous structures,
恒星、星系和星系团聚集在一起，形成巨大的结构，
but the gravity of the stars is not what pulls them together.
但并不是恒星的引力将它们汇聚在一起的。
Rather it's that illusive and invisible stuff called dark matter that gives shape to the universe,
相反，赋予宇宙形状的其实是被称为“暗物质”的这种看不见摸不着的东西，
so as we map it out, we'll be able to refine our understanding of the universe's makeup.
所以，通过绘制宇宙地图这一过程，我们就能一步步完善我们对宇宙构成的理解。
But cosmography isn't always as easy as pointing a telescope towards the sky and writing down what you see.
不过，宇宙学并不总像用望远镜对准天空并记录下你所看到的景象这么简单。
Sometimes, even massive structures are hidden from view.
有时，明明是巨大的结构体我们也会看不见。
Our own Milky Way's dusty center obscures whatever is behind it,
因为我们所在的银河系的中心充满了尘埃，会挡住中心背后的一切，
an area of the sky above the South Pole that has been dubbed the “Zone of Avoidance.”
该中心是位于南极上空的一片区域，又被称之为“避让区域”。
Which is funny, because the Zone of Avoidance is also what I've been calling places with people during the pandemic.
这名字还挺有趣的，因为我把疫情期间有人的地方也叫作“避让区域”。
Some cosmographers were undaunted by the zone though,
不过，一些宇宙学家并没有被这个区域的名字吓倒，
and they pulled out some clever tricks to peer into it.
他们甚至还摆出了一些非常聪明的招数来窥探它。
The universe is expanding which means on the whole,
宇宙在膨胀，这就意味着总体而言，
galaxies should be moving away from us at a constant rate.
星系正在以恒定的速度远离我们。
Using a catalog of the motions and distances of 18,000 galaxies called Cosmicflows-3,
通过使用记录了1.8万个星系的运动和距离情况的一个叫“宇宙流3号”的目录，
the scientists noticed that some galaxies were moving faster or slower than expected,
科学家们发现，一些星系的移动速度要么快于预期，要么慢于预期，
and seemed to be drawn to something in the middle,
而且似乎受到了中间，
something hidden in the Zone of Avoidance.
也就是隐藏在避让区域的某个东西的吸引。
Something…big.
还是个体型……很大的东西。
Computer models revealed a wall made up of thousands of galaxies
计算机模型显示，该区域有一道由数千个星系组成的墙，
at least 600 million light-years deep and 1.4 billion light-years across,
这道墙至少有6亿光年深，1000光年宽。
forming a bow shape over the southern hemisphere's sky.
在南半球上空形成了一个弓形。
They have creatively dubbed this wall-like structure above the south pole the South Pole Wall,
他们创造性地将南极上方的这个墙状结构命名为了“南极墙”，
and not only is it enormous,
而且，这道墙不仅十分巨大，
it's one of the top-ten biggest structures ever observed, it's also relatively close.
还是有史以来观察到的十大最大的（宇宙）结构体之一，离我们还相对较近。
It's 500 million light-years away,
它距离我们（只有）5亿光年远，
twice as close as a similarly sized structure called the Sloan Great Wall.
比同样大小的史隆长城近了一半。
It's large enough and close enough that it actually affects the velocity of our own galaxy,
无论是大小，还是距离，都已经达到了影响我们所在的银河系的速度的条件，
contributing about 40km/s to the movement of the Milky Way.
具体对银河系运动速度的影响在40公里/秒左右。
The South Pole Wall could in fact be even larger than we think.
南极墙实际的大小可能比我们想象的还要大。
It's curved shape allowed for a lot of it to fit within the Cosmicflows-3 view,
弯曲的形状使得该宇宙墙的很大一部分都能被框入宇宙流3号的视图，
but it's possible that the wall extends beyond what we can see.
不过，这也导致它可能还有一部分延伸到了我们的观测范围之外。
We'd need a bigger map to know just where it ends.
要想知道它的终点，我们还得绘制一份更大的（宇宙）地图。
It's incredible that something so enormous was hiding just behind the dusty curtain of the Milky Way's center.
想想都不可思议，尘埃遍布的银河系中心背后竟然隐藏着如此巨大的一个存在。
Who knows what other areas of the universe's map are obscured from view?
谁知道宇宙地图上还有多少区域被遮挡在了我们的视野之外呢？
It'll take better technology and more research to see the unseeable,
这就需要更好的技术和更多的研究，我们才能看到目前看不到的那些东西，
which means if you feel that itch to be one of the next great explorers,
这意味着如果你也心痒痒，渴望成为下一批伟大的探险家之一，
now is the perfect time to look to the stars.
那么，现在就是你仰望星空的最好时机。
Since the universe is so enormous,
因为宇宙实在是太大了，
mapping out the whole thing is an enormous challenge.
所以，绘制整个宇宙的地图是一项非常艰巨的挑战。
So, some researchers have turned to an unlikely place for guidance: slime mold.
于是，一些研究人员就将目光转向了一个不太可能的地方：粘液霉菌。
Check out my video on how these communal creatures are showing us where to look for dark matter here.
这些团体生物是如何告诉我们到哪里寻找暗物质的，想知道答案的同学可以看我的这期视频。
Do you have that drive to explore the universe?
你有探索宇宙的那种欲望吗？
Let us know down in the comments.
快来评论区告诉我们吧。
Don't forget to subscribe for more videos like this, and I'll see you next time on Seeker.
别忘了订阅栏目观看更多同类视频噢，那我们就下期节目再见啦。
