體積的奧妙
到了第二集《目窮至大》，占得以看到更為大型的宇宙超結構，揭示我們對宇宙理解的最新突破。例如太陽圈，是充滿大陽能電漿的雲狀聚合物，圍繞並且保衞著太陽系，這種獨特的物理運作，有助我們明白生命如何出現。跳往更大的規模，占更與我們在星際的家——銀河——打了個照面。這是個奇異的結構，由暗物質的引力塑造出來。占又與先鋒研究員安德魯．費邊見面，明白黑洞中央位置各樣奇異的行為，例如能夠發出世界上最低的音符。此外，占又看見拉尼亞凱亞超星系團，相比之下銀河系實在十分渺少。在這以上，又有“巨大星系弧”，是集結了多個星系的結構，範圍大至延展到整個可見宇宙的百分之三。英國博士生艾莉茜亞．洛佩斯的這個巨大發現，驅使科學家重新審視有關宇宙演化的理論，甚至可能推翻部分物理學的基本原則。
In the “Going Big” episode, Jim encounters ever larger cosmic structures to reveal the latest breakthroughs in our understanding of the universe. For example, there’s the heliosphere, a vast cloud of solar plasma which surrounds and protects the solar system. Its unique physics will help us understand how life is possible. Larger still, Jim comes face to face with our galactic home, the Milky Way, a monstrous structure sculpted by the gravitational forces of dark matter. From pioneering researcher, Andrew Fabian, Jim finds out about the black hole at its centre whose strange behaviour includes emitting the lowest note ever heard in the cosmos. At an even greater scale, Jim will encounter huge structures such as the Laniakea galactic super-cluster of which the Milky Way is a tiny part. Then there’s “the giant arc”, a collection of galaxies which spans more than 3 per cent of the observable universe. From its discoverer, British PhD student Alexia Lopez, Jim finds out this gargantuan structure is forcing scientists to reassess their theory of how the universe evolves and may overturn some of the most fundamental principles in physics.
