体积的奥妙
到了第二集《目穷至大》，占得以看到更为大型的宇宙超结构，揭示我们对宇宙理解的最新突破。例如太阳圈，是充满大阳能电浆的云状聚合物，围绕并且保卫着太阳系，这种独特的物理运作，有助我们明白生命如何出现。跳往更大的规模，占更与我们在星际的家——银河——打了个照面。这是个奇异的结构，由暗物质的引力塑造出来。占又与先锋研究员安德鲁．费边见面，明白黑洞中央位置各样奇异的行为，例如能够发出世界上最低的音符。此外，占又看见拉尼亚凯亚超星系团，相比之下银河系实在十分渺少。在这以上，又有“巨大星系弧”，是集结了多个星系的结构，范围大至延展到整个可见宇宙的百分之三。英国博士生艾莉茜亚．洛佩斯的这个巨大发现，驱使科学家重新审视有关宇宙演化的理论，甚至可能推翻部分物理学的基本原则。
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.
