The European Space Agency has published the most detailed map to date of the oldest light in the sky, which holds the secrets of the birth and death of our universe.

　　欧洲空间局(European Space Agency)发表了迄今最精细的有关天空中最古老光芒的天球观测图，这一观测图包含了我们所处的宇宙诞生和死亡的秘密。

　　This long-awaited map of the “cosmic microwave background” ? the afterglow of the Big Bang that formed the universe 13.8bn years ago ? is based on observations by the ?00m Planck space telescope launched in 2009.

　　各方期待已久的这一观测图是基于2009年发射的价值7亿欧元的“普朗克”(Plank)空间望远镜的观测生成的，该观测图反映的是“宇宙微波背景辐射”(cosmic microwave background)(指138亿年前形成宇宙的“大爆炸”(Big Bang)的余晖)的分布情况。

　　The implications are that the newborn universe inflated a trillion trillion trillion times within the blink of an eye ? and that today’s universe will go on growing for ever, ending up eventually as cold, dark, unimaginably vast nothingness.

　　按照大爆炸理论，宇宙诞生之初，在一眨眼时间里膨胀了万亿亿亿亿倍，而如今宇宙还会继续永远膨胀下去，直到最终变成寒冷、黑暗、巨大得难以想象的虚空。

　　The map shows the distribution of the radiation released 380,000 years after the Big Bang, when the universe had cooled enough for light to pass through it for the first time.

　　这一观测图展示了宇宙大爆炸38万年后的辐射分布，当时宇宙刚刚冷却到足以让光线穿过的程度。

　　From a vantage point a million kilometers from Earth, Planck maps tiny variations in this microwave background, which still pervades the whole of space. Blue spots are only 0.01 per cent colder than the orange spots.

　　在距离地球100万公里的有利观测地点，普朗克记录了仍弥漫整个太空的微波背景辐射的微小扰动的分布。图中蓝色斑点的温度只比橙色斑点低0.01%。

　　Astronomers believe the variations represent random “quantum” fluctuations immediately after the Big Bang, which were magnified by a short period of “cosmic inflation” when the universe expanded far faster than the speed of light and then by a much longer period of slower expansion.

　　天文学家们相信，这些扰动表示大爆炸之后紧接着发生的随机“量子”涨落，这些涨落先后经过宇宙两个膨胀阶段的放大。第一个阶段的“宇宙膨胀”持续时间很短，不过在这个阶段宇宙膨胀的速度远高于光速，随后的第二个阶段要长得多，而这时宇宙膨胀速度相对较慢。

　　“Patterns over huge patches of sky tell us about what was happening on the tiniest of scales in the moments just after our universe was born,” said Charles Lawrence, a Planck scientist at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Lab in California.

　　美国国家航空航天局(NASA)加州喷气推进实验室(Jet Propulsion Lab)从事普朗克望远镜项目的科学家查尔斯•劳伦斯(Charles Lawrence)表示：“大片天空中的辐射分布情况，能令我们在最细微的尺度上知道在宇宙刚刚诞生之初发生了什么。”

　　During the following 13.8bn years, the tiny patches of uneven density were intensified under the influence of gravity to become gas clouds, stars, planets and galaxies.

　　在随后的138亿年里，那些细微的不均匀密度分布在引力的作用下得以加强，形成了气体云、恒星、行星和星系。

　　The Planck data fit the current “standard model” of cosmology very well, said George Efstathiou of Cambridge university, though some parameters need to be adjusted. The universe is about 80m years older than was previously expected.

　　剑桥大学(Cambridge University)的乔治•埃弗斯塔修(George Efstathiou)表示，普朗克望远镜的观测数据与当前宇宙学中的“标准模型”十分吻合，不过还有些参数需要调整。宇宙的年龄比之前预计的要老大约8000万年。

　　It also contains slightly more “dark matter” (27 per cent) and less “dark energy” (69 per cent) than scientists had realized, but the identities of both dark matter and dark energy remain unknown. Ordinary matter ? observable as stars, planets and other visible astronomical objects ? represents only 5 per cent of the universe.

　　另外，宇宙中的“暗物质”比科学家此前意识到的略多(27%)，“暗能量”则较少(69%)，不过暗物质和暗能量的组分依然不得而知。目前，人类可以观测到的这些恒星、行星及其他可见天体等组成的普通物质在宇宙中只占5%。