ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Wendy Freedman - Astronomer
Wendy Freedman led the construction of the Giant Magellan Telescope, a massive earthbound observatory.

Why you should listen
Wendy Freedman and her colleagues raced to build the world’s first next-generation telescope. The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), in northern Chile, is one of three mega-telescopes currently under construction in the Atacama desert region (The others are the ALMA and the European Extremely Large Telescope, E-ELT).
 
The GMT will have 10 times more resolution than the Hubble Space Telescope. When it is finished, Freedman could be among those who answer one of astronomy’s greatest riddles: are there any other Earth-like planets out there? No stranger to big questions, Freedman and her colleagues at the Carnegie Observatories are also refining the measurement of the Hubble Constant, which could change our understanding of the speed of our expanding universe.
More profile about the speaker
Wendy Freedman | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2014

Wendy Freedman: This telescope might show us the beginning of the universe

Wendy Freedman: Este novo telescopio pode amosarnos o comezo do Universo

Filmed:
1,448,439 views

Cando e como comezou o Universo? Un grupo de astrónomos de distintas partes do mundo quere responder a esta pregunta observando todo o lonxe no tempo que un novo e gran telescopio nos vai permitir. Wendy Freedman dirixiu a creación do Telescopio Xigante de Magalhães (GMT), que se está a construír en América do Sur. No TEDGlobal, en Río de Xaneiro, ela comparte unha audaz visión das descubertas que o GMT pode posibilitar en relación co noso Universo.
- Astronomer
Wendy Freedman led the construction of the Giant Magellan Telescope, a massive earthbound observatory. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
When I was 14 years old,
I was interested in science --
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Cando tiña 14 anos,
interesábame a ciencia,
00:17
fascinated by it,
excited to learn about it.
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fascinábame,
entusiasmábame aprendela.
00:20
And I had a high school science teacher
who would say to the class,
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E tiven un profesor de ciencias
no instituto que nos dixo na clase:
00:24
"The girls don't have to listen to this."
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"As rapazas non tedes que escoitar isto".
00:28
Encouraging, yes.
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Alentador, a que si?
00:30
(Laughter)
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(Risas)
00:31
I chose not to listen --
but to that statement alone.
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Decidín non escoitar --
só esa afirmación en concreto.
00:36
So let me take you
to the Andes mountains in Chile,
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Déixenme levalos
ao cordal dos Andes, en Chile,
00:40
500 kilometers, 300 miles
northeast of Santiago.
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a 500 kilómetros, 300 millas,
ao nordés de Santiago.
00:45
It's very remote, it's very dry
and it's very beautiful.
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É un lugar moi afastado,
moi seco e moi fermoso.
00:50
And there's not much there.
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E non hai moito máis alí.
00:51
There are condors, there are tarantulas,
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Hai cóndores, tarántulas,
00:54
and at night, when the light dims,
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e de noite, cando a luz é tenue,
00:56
it reveals one of the darkest
skies on Earth.
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pódese ver un dos ceos
máis escuros da Terra.
01:00
It's kind of a magic place, the mountain.
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É unha especie de lugar máxico, a montaña.
01:03
It's a wonderful combination
of very remote mountaintop
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É unha combinación marabillosa
de afastados cumes
01:07
with exquisitely sophisticated technology.
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cunha tecnoloxía sumamente avanzada.
01:11
And our ancestors, for as long
as there's been recorded history,
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E os nosos devanceiros,
dende que hai rexistros históricos,
01:15
have looked at the night sky
and pondered the nature of our existence.
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miraron cara ao ceo nocturno
cavilando sobre a natureza da existencia.
01:20
And we're no exception, our generation.
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E a nosa xeración non é unha excepción.
01:23
The only difficulty is
that the night sky now is blocked
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O único problema é que o ceo nocturno
agora está iluminado
01:26
by the glare of city lights.
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pola luz das cidades.
01:29
And so astronomers go
to these very remote mountaintops
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Por iso, os astrónomos van
a estes afastados cumes
01:32
to view and to study the cosmos.
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para examinar e estudar o cosmos.
01:34
So telescopes
are our window to the cosmos.
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Os telescopios son
a nosa xanela ao cosmos.
01:40
It's no exaggeration to say that
the Southern Hemisphere is going to be
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Non esaxero se lles digo
que o hemisferio sur vai ser
01:44
the future of astronomy
for the 21st century.
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o futuro da astronomía
durante o século XXI.
01:48
We have an array
of existing telescopes already,
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Xa temos unha serie de telescopios,
01:51
in the Andes mountains in Chile,
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no cordal dos Andes, en Chile,
01:53
and that's soon to be joined by a really
sensational array of new capability.
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á que axiña se unirá
outra serie incrible de nova capacidade.
01:58
There will be two international groups
that are going to be building
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Vai haber dous grupos internacionais
que construirán
02:01
giant telescopes, sensitive
to optical radiation, as our eyes are.
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telescopios xigantes, sensibles
á radiación óptica, coma os nosos ollos.
02:07
There will be a survey telescope
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Vai haber un telescopio de rastrexo
02:09
that will be scanning the sky
every few nights.
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que analizará o ceo cada poucas noites.
02:13
There will be radio telescopes,
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Vai haber radiotelescopios,
02:14
sensitive to long-wavelength
radio radiation.
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sensibles a radiacións de onda longa.
02:18
And then there will be
telescopes in space.
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E despois, haberá telescopios no espazo.
02:21
There'll be a successor
to the Hubble Space Telescope;
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Haberá un sucesor
do Telescopio Espacial Hubble:
02:24
it's called the James Webb Telescope,
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chámase o Telescopio James Webb
02:26
and it will be launched in 2018.
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e lanzarase no 2018.
02:29
There'll be a satellite called TESS
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Haberá un satélite chamado TESS
02:30
that will discover planets
outside of our solar system.
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que vai descubrir planetas
fóra do noso sistema solar.
02:36
For the last decade,
I've been leading a group --
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Durante a última década,
estiven a liderar un grupo,
02:38
a consortium -- international group,
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un consorcio -- un grupo internacional,
02:41
to build what will be, when it's finished,
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para constuír o que será, cando se remate,
02:44
the largest optical
telescope in existence.
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o maior telescopio óptico que existe.
02:47
It's called the Giant
Magellan Telescope, or GMT.
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Chámase Telescopio Xigante de Magalhães,
ou GMT (Giant Magellan Telescope).
02:51
This telescope is going to have mirrors
that are 8.4 meters in diameter --
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Este telescopio vai ter espellos
de 8,4 metros de diámetro--
02:56
each of the mirrors.
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cada espello.
02:57
That's almost 27 feet.
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Case 9 metros.
02:59
So it dwarfs this stage -- maybe
out to the fourth row in this audience.
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Será máis grande ca este escenario---
case ata a cuarta fila do público.
03:03
Each of the seven mirrors
in this telescope
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Cada un dos sete espellos do telescopio
03:06
will be almost 27 feet in diameter.
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terá case 9 metros de diámetro.
03:10
Together, the seven mirrors
in this telescope will comprise
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Xuntos, eses sete espellos medirán
03:14
80 feet in diameter.
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algo máis de 24 metros de diámetro.
03:16
So, essentially the size
of this entire auditorium.
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Polo tanto, será, practicamente,
o tamaño deste auditorio.
03:20
The whole telescope will stand
about 43 meters high,
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O telescopio estará a case
43 metros de altura,
03:24
and again, being in Rio,
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e de novo, estando en Río,
03:26
some of you have been to see
the statue of the giant Christ.
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algúns de vós debedes ter visto
a estatua do Cristo xigante.
03:30
The scale is comparable in height;
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A escala é comparable en altura.
03:32
in fact, it's smaller
than this telescope will be.
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De feito, é máis pequeno
do que este telescopio vai ser.
03:36
It's comparable to the size
of the Statue of Liberty.
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É comparable ao tamaño
da Estatua da Liberdade.
03:39
And it's going to be housed
in an enclosure that's 22 stories --
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E aloxarase nun recinto de 22 andares.
03:43
60 meters high.
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60 metros de altura.
03:45
But it's an unusual building
to protect this telescope.
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Pero é un edificio pouco común
para protexer este telescopio.
03:48
It will have open windows to the sky,
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Terá xanelas abertas cara o ceo,
03:50
be able to point and look at the sky,
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poderá apuntar e mirar o ceo,
03:52
and it will actually rotate on a base --
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e rotará nunha base --
03:55
2,000 tons of rotating building.
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un edificio xiratorio de 2.000 toneladas.
03:59
The Giant Magellan Telescope
will have 10 times the resolution
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O Telescopio Xigante de Magalhães
terá 10 veces a resolución
04:04
of the Hubble Space Telescope.
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do Telescopio Espacial Hubble.
04:06
It will be 20 million times
more sensitive than the human eye.
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Será 20 millóns de veces
máis sensible ca o ollo humano.
04:11
And it may, for the first time ever,
be capable of finding life on planets
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e poderá, por primeira vez na historia,
atopar vida en planetas
04:17
outside of our solar system.
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que están fóra do noso sistema solar.
04:20
It's going to allow us to look back
at the first light in the universe --
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Vainos permitir mirar cara a atrás
e ver a primeira luz do universo --
04:24
literally, the dawn of the cosmos.
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literalmente, o alborecer do cosmos.
04:27
The cosmic dawn.
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O alborecer cósmico.
04:29
It's a telescope that's
going to allow us to peer back,
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Este telescopio permitiranos
observar o pasado,
04:33
witness galaxies as they were
when they were actually assembling,
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ver as galaxias tal como eran
cando se estaban a formar,
04:37
the first black holes in the universe,
the first galaxies.
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os primeiros buracos negros do universo,
as primeiras galaxias.
04:41
Now, for thousands of years,
we have been studying the cosmos,
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Durante os milleiros de anos
que estudamos o cosmos,
04:46
we've been wondering
about our place in the universe.
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preguntámonos cal é
o noso lugar no universo.
04:49
The ancient Greeks told us
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Os antigos gregos dixéronnos
04:50
that the Earth was the center
of the universe.
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que a Terra era o centro do universo.
04:53
Five hundred years ago,
Copernicus displaced the Earth,
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Hai cincocentos anos,
Copérnico desprazou a Terra
04:56
and put the Sun
at the heart of the cosmos.
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e situou o Sol no corazón do cosmos.
05:00
And as we've learned over the centuries,
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Tal como aprendemos ao longo dos séculos,
05:02
since Galileo Galilei,
the Italian scientist,
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dende que Galileo Galilei,
o científico italiano,
05:05
first turned, in that time, a two-inch,
very small telescope, to the sky,
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apuntou cara ao ceo
cun pequeno telescopio de 5 centímetros,
05:10
every time we have built
larger telescopes,
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sempre que construímos
telescopios maiores,
05:13
we have learned something
about the universe;
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descubrimos algo sobre o universo;
05:16
we've made discoveries, without exception.
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fixemos descubrimentos, sen excepcións.
05:20
We've learned in the 20th century
that the universe is expanding
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No século XX descubrimos
que o universo se está a expandir
05:24
and that our own solar system
is not at the center of that expansion.
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e que o noso sistema solar
non é o centro desta expansión.
05:29
We know now that the universe
is made of about 100 billion galaxies
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Agora sabemos que o universo se compón
duns 100 mil millóns de galaxias
05:35
that are visible to us,
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visibles para nós,
05:36
and each one of those galaxies
has 100 billion stars within it.
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e cada unha desas galaxias
contén 100 mil millóns de estrelas.
05:43
So we're looking now
at the deepest image of the cosmos
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Agora miramos cara
á imaxe máis profunda do cosmos
05:46
that's ever been taken.
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como nunca antes o fixeramos.
05:48
It was taken using
the Hubble Space Telescope,
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Sacouna o Telescopio Espacial Hubble
05:50
and by pointing the telescope at what
was previously a blank region of sky,
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apuntando cara a unha parte do ceo
que estaba baleira,
05:55
before the launch of Hubble.
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antes do lanzamento do Hubble.
05:57
And if you can imagine this tiny area,
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E se poden imaxinar esta área diminuta,
05:59
it's only one-fiftieth
of the size of the full moon.
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é só unha cincuentava parte
do tamaño da Lúa.
06:03
So, if you can imagine the full moon.
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Poden imaxinar o tamaño da Lúa.
06:05
And there are now 10,000 galaxies
visible within that image.
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Agora existen 10.000 galaxias
visibles nesta imaxe.
06:09
And the faintness of those images
and the tiny size is only a result
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E o tenue das imaxes e mais
o tamaño diminuto é só o resultado
06:14
of the fact that those galaxies
are so far away, the vast distances.
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de que esas galaxias
están moi afastadas, a longa distancia.
06:18
And each of those galaxies
may contain within it
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Cada unha delas pode conter
06:21
a few billion or even hundreds
of billions of individual stars.
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miles de millóns ou incluso
centos de miles de millóns de estrelas.
06:27
Telescopes are like time machines.
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Os telescopios son coma máquinas do tempo.
06:29
So the farther back we look in space,
the further back we see in time.
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Canto máis lonxe miramos no espazo,
máis atrás miramos no tempo.
06:34
And they're like light buckets --
literally, they collect light.
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E hai coma baldes de luz --
literalmente, acumulan luz.
06:37
So larger the bucket,
the larger the mirror we have,
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Así, canto máis grande é o balde
máis grande é o espello que temos,
06:40
the more light we can see,
and the farther back we can view.
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máis luz podemos ver
e máis atrás podemos mirar.
06:45
So, we've learned in the last century
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No último século descubrimos
06:47
that there are exotic objects
in the universe -- black holes.
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que no universo hai obxectos exóticos --
os buracos negros.
06:50
We've even learned
that there's dark matter and dark energy
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Descubrimos que existen
a materia e a enerxía escuras
06:53
that we can't see.
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que non podemos ver.
06:55
So you're looking now
at an actual image of dark matter.
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Agora estades a mirar
unha imaxe real da materia escura.
06:58
(Laughter)
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(Risas)
06:59
You got it. Not all audiences get that.
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Entendéstelo. Non todo o mundo o entende.
07:02
(Laughter)
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(Risas)
07:04
So the way we infer
the presence of dark matter --
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Entón, o xeito como concluímos
que había materia escura --
07:07
we can't see it -- but there's
an unmistakable tug, due to gravity.
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non a podemos ver -- mais hai un tirón
inconfundible, debido á gravidade.
07:13
We now can look out,
we see this sea of galaxies
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Se prestamos atención,
vemos este mar de galaxias
07:16
in a universe that's expanding.
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nun universo que se expande.
07:18
What I do myself is to measure
the expansion of the universe,
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O que eu fago é medir
a expansión do universo
07:22
and one of the projects
that I carried out in the 1990s
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e nun dos proxectos
que levei a cabo nos 90
07:25
used the Hubble Space Telescope to measure
how fast the universe is expanding.
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usei o Telescopio Espacial Hubble
para medir a velocidade a que se expande.
07:31
We can now trace back to 14 billion years.
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Agora podémonos remontar
a hai 14 mil millón de anos.
07:35
We've learned over time
that stars have individual histories;
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Co tempo descubrimos
que cada estrela ten a súa historia;
07:40
that is, they have birth,
they have middle ages
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teñen nacemento, madureza
07:43
and some of them
even have dramatic deaths.
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e incluso algunhas teñen
unha morte dramática.
07:45
So the embers from those stars actually
then form the new stars that we see,
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E as brasas desas estrelas
forman as novas que vemos,
07:51
most of which turn out to have
planets going around them.
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a maioría das cales acaban por ter
planetas arredor delas.
07:56
And one of the really surprising results
in the last 20 years
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E un dos resultados máis sorprendentes
dos últimos 20 anos
08:00
has the been the discovery
of other planets going around other stars.
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foi o descubrimento doutros planetas
que gravitan arredor doutras estrelas.
08:04
These are called exoplanets.
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Os chamados exoplanetas.
08:06
And until 1995, we didn't even know
the existence of any other planets,
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E ata 1995, non sabiamos
da existencia doutros planetas
08:11
other than going around our own sun.
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que non fosen os do noso Sistema Solar.
08:14
But now, there are almost 2,000
other planets orbiting other stars
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Mais agora, hai case 2.000 planetas
orbitando arredor doutras estrelas
08:20
that we can now detect,
measure masses for.
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que podemos identificar,
cuxa masa podemos medir.
08:23
There are 500 of those
that are multiple-planet systems.
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500 deles son sistemas multiplanetarios.
08:27
And there are 4,000 --
and still counting -- other candidates
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E hai outros 4.000 candidatos
-- e seguimos a contar --
08:31
for planets orbiting other stars.
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a planetas que orbitan outras estrelas.
08:33
They come in a brooling variety
of different kinds.
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Preséntanse nunha desconcertante
variedade de tipoloxías diferentes.
08:37
There are Jupiter-like
planets that are hot,
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Hai planetas similares a Xúpiter,
que son quentes,
08:40
there are other planets that are icy,
there are water worlds
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hai outros que están conxelados,
hai mundo acuáticos
08:44
and there are rocky planets
like the Earth, so-called "super-Earths,"
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e hai planetas rochosos coma a Terra,
chamados "Súperterras",
08:48
and there have even been planets
that have been speculated diamond worlds.
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e incluso houbo planetas
que se especula foron mundos de diamante.
08:53
So we know there's at least one planet,
our own Earth, in which there is life.
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Sabemos que, polo menos nun planeta,
o noso, hai vida.
08:58
We've even found planets
that are orbiting two stars.
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Atopamos incluso planetas
que orbitan dúas estrelas.
09:02
That's no longer the province
of science fiction.
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Xa non é cousa da ciencia ficción.
09:07
So around our own planet,
we know there's life,
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No noso planeta sabemos que hai vida,
09:09
we've developed a complex life,
we now can question our own origins.
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desenvolvemos unha vida complexa,
podemos preguntarnos sobre a nosa orixe.
09:15
And given all that we've discovered,
the overwhelming numbers now suggest
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E dado todo o que descubrimos,
agora a enorme cantidade suxire
09:19
that there may be millions, perhaps --
maybe even hundreds of millions --
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que hai millóns --
incluso talvez centos de millóns --
09:24
of other stars that are close enough --
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de planetas que están
abondo preto --
09:26
just the right distance from their stars
that they're orbiting --
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xusto á distancia exacta
das estrelas arredor das que orbitan --
09:30
to have the existence of liquid water
and maybe could potentially support life.
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para teren auga en estado líquido,
polo que poderían albergar vida.
09:36
So we marvel now at those odds,
the overwhelming odds,
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Marabillámonos con estas probabilidades,
enormes probabilidades,
09:40
and the amazing thing
is that within the next decade,
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e o máis marabilloso é
que durante a vindeira década
09:43
the GMT may be able to take spectra
of the atmospheres of those planets,
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o GMT talvez poida analizar os espectros
das atmosferas deses planetas
09:48
and determine whether or not
they have the potential for life.
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e determinar se existe ou non
a posibilidade de que alberguen vida.
09:53
So, what is the GMT project?
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Entón, que é o proxecto GMT?
09:55
It's an international project.
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É un proxecto internacional.
09:57
It includes Australia, South Korea,
and I'm happy to say, being here in Rio,
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Inclúe a Australia, Corea do Sur,
e encántame poder dicir, aquí en Río,
10:03
that the newest partner
in our telescope is Brazil.
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que o máis recente socio
no noso telescopio é Brasil.
10:06
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
10:11
It also includes a number of institutions
across the United States,
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Tamén inclúe unha serie de institucións
ao longo dos Estados Unidos,
10:16
including Harvard University,
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coma a Universidade de Harvard,
10:19
the Smithsonian
and the Carnegie Institutions,
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as Institucións Smithsonian e Carnegie,
10:22
and the Universities of Arizona, Chicago,
Texas-Austin and Texas A&M University.
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e as universidades de Arizona, Chicago,
Texas-Austin e Texas A&M.
10:29
It also involves Chile.
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Tamén inclúe a Chile.
10:32
So, the making of the mirrors
in this telescope is also fascinating
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A fabricación dos espellos do telescopio
é tamén fascinante en si mesma.
10:35
in its own right.
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10:37
Take chunks of glass, melt them
in a furnace that is itself rotating.
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Coller anacos de cristal, fundilos
nun forno que está a rotar.
10:42
This happens underneath
the football stadium
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Isto ocorre debaixo do estadio de fútbol
10:44
at the University of Arizona.
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da Universidade de Arizona.
10:46
It's tucked away under 52,000 seats.
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Está agochado debaixo de 52.000 asentos.
10:49
Nobody know it's happening.
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Ninguén sabe que se fai isto.
10:51
And there's essentially
a rotating cauldron.
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É basicamente un caldeiro que rota.
10:55
The mirrors are cast
and they're cooled very slowly,
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Os espellos fúndense
e arrefrían moi lentamente,
10:58
and then they're polished
to an exquisite precision.
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e despois pólense con extrema precisión.
11:01
And so, if you think
about the precision of these mirrors,
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Se pensan na precisión destes espellos,
11:04
the bumps on the mirror,
over the entire 27 feet,
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as protuberancias no espello,
en todos eses case 9 metros,
11:09
amount to less
than one-millionth of an inch.
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representan menos
dunha millonésima parte dun centímetro.
11:13
So, can you visualize that?
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Poden imaxinalo?
11:15
Ow!
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Uau!
11:16
(Laughter)
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(Risas)
11:17
That's one five-thousandths
of the width of one of my hairs,
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Iso son as cinco milésimas partes
do grosor dun cabelo meu,
11:23
over this entire 27 feet.
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sobre estes case 9 metros.
11:26
It's a spectacular achievement.
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É un logro incrible.
11:27
It's what allows us to have
the precision that we will have.
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É o que nos permite ter
a precisión que imos ter.
11:32
So, what does that precision buy us?
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E entón, que nos da esta precisión?
11:35
So the GMT, if you can imagine --
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O GMT, intenten imaxinar --
11:38
if I were to hold up a coin,
which I just happen to have,
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se termo dunha moeda,
que por casualidade teño por aquí,
11:43
and I look at the face of that coin,
I can see from here
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e miro unha das súas caras,
podo ver dende aquí
11:48
the writing on the coin;
I can see the face on that coin.
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a inscrición, podo ver a cara.
11:52
My guess that even in the front row,
you can't see that.
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Supoño que incluso os da primeira fila
xa non sodes quen de velo.
11:55
But if we were to turn
the Giant Magellan Telescope,
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Pero se tivermos
o Telescopio Xigante de Magalhães,
11:58
all 80-feet diameter
that we see in this auditorium,
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nos 24 metros de diámetro
que vemos neste auditorio,
12:01
and point it 200 miles away,
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e apuntásemos a 320 km de distancia,
12:05
if I were standing in São Paulo,
we could resolve the face of this coin.
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se eu estivese en São Paulo,
poderiamos ver a cara da moeda.
12:10
That's the extraordinary resolution
and power of this telescope.
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Esa é a resolución e poder extraodinarios
deste telescopio.
12:15
And if we were --
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E se --
12:18
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
12:22
If an astronaut went up to the Moon,
a quarter of a million miles away,
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Se un astronauta estivese na Lúa,
a catrocentos mil kilómetros,
12:27
and lit a candle -- a single candle --
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e prendese unha candea -- só unha --
12:29
then we would be able
to detect it, using the GMT.
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poderiamos vela co GMT.
12:33
Quite extraordinary.
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Extraodinario.
12:37
This is a simulated image
of a cluster in a nearby galaxy.
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Está é unha imaxe simulada
dun cúmulo nunha galaxia que está preto
12:43
"Nearby" is astronomical,
it's all relative.
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"Preto" en astronomía é moi relativo.
12:45
It's tens of millions of light-years away.
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2503
Está a dez millóns de anos luz.
12:48
This is what this cluster would look like.
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Así sería como como se vería.
12:50
So look at those four bright objects,
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Miren eses catro obxectos luminosos
12:52
and now lets compare it with a camera
on the Hubble Space Telescope.
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e compárenos cunha imaxe
da cámara do Telescopio Espacial Hubble.
12:56
You can see faint detail
that starts to come through.
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3179
Lógranse ver algúns lixeiros detalles
das estrelas.
12:59
And now finally -- and look how dramatic
this is -- this is what the GMT will see.
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6295
E agora, -- miren que espectacular --
isto é o que se verá co GMT.
13:05
So, keep your eyes on those
bright images again.
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Miren de novo esas imaxes brillantes.
13:08
This is what we see on one of the most
powerful existing telescopes on the Earth,
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Isto é o que se ve grazas a un dos
telescopios máis potentes da Terra,
13:12
and this, again, what the GMT will see.
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e isto, de novo, o que se verá co GMT.
13:16
Extraordinary precision.
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Unha precisión extraodinaria.
13:18
So, where are we?
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Entón, onde estamos?
13:20
We have now leveled the top
of the mountaintop in Chile.
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Agora acabamos de chegar ao cume
das montañas en Chile.
13:23
We blasted that off.
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E comezamos a traballar.
13:25
We've tested and polished
the first mirror.
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Xa probamos e pulimos o primeiro espello.
13:28
We've cast the second
and the third mirrors.
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Xa fixemos o segundo e mais o terceiro.
13:30
And we're about to cast the fourth mirror.
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E estamos a piques de facer o cuarto.
13:32
We had a series of reviews this year,
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Tivemos varios exames este ano,
13:34
international panels
that came in and reviewed us,
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expertos internacionais
que examinaron o noso traballo
13:37
and said, "You're ready
to go to construction."
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e dixeron:
"estades listos para construír".
13:39
And so we plan on building this telescope
with the first four mirrors.
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Entón pensamos construír este telescopio
cos primeiros catro espellos.
13:43
We want to get on the air quickly,
and be taking science data --
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Queremos poñelo en marcha axiña
e comezar a recoller datos científicos --
13:47
what we astronomers call
"first light," in 2121.
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o que os astrónomos chamamos
"a primeira luz", para 2021.
13:53
And the full telescope will be finished
in the middle of the next decade,
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E o telescopio enteiro estará rematado
a mediados da próxima década,
13:56
with all seven mirrors.
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cos sete espellos.
13:58
So we're now poised to look back
at the distant universe,
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Agora estamos preparados para
mirar atrás no afastado universo,
14:02
the cosmic dawn.
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o alborecer cósmico.
14:03
We'll be able to study other planets
in exquisite detail.
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Poderemos estudar outros planetas
cunha gran precisión.
14:08
But for me, one of the most
exciting things about building the GMT
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Pero para min, un dos aspectos
máis emocionantes de construír o GMT
14:12
is the opportunity
to actually discover something
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é ter a oportunidade
de descubrir de verdade algo
14:15
that we don't know about --
that we can't even imagine at this point,
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que non saibamos --
que nin poidamos imaxinar neste momento,
14:18
something completely new.
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algo totalmente novo.
14:20
And my hope is that with the construction
of this and other facilities,
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E teño a esperanza de que con esta
e con outras instalacións,
14:24
that many young women and men
will be inspired to reach for the stars.
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moitas rapazas e rapaces novos
se animen a acadar as estrelas.
14:30
Thank you very much.
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Moitas grazas.
14:31
Obrigado.
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Obrigado.
14:32
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
14:38
Bruno Giussani: Thank you, Wendy.
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Bruno Giussani: Grazas, Wendy.
14:40
Stay with me, because
I have a question for you.
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Queda comigo, porque teño unha pregunta.
14:42
You mentioned different facilities.
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Citaches varias instalacións.
14:45
So the Magellan Telescope is going up,
but also ALMA and others in Chile
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O Telescopio de Magalhães estase a facer
mais tamén o ALMA e outros en Chile
14:49
and elsewhere, including in Hawaii.
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e noutros lugares, coma Hawaii.
14:52
Is it about cooperation
and complementarity, or about competition?
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Trátase de colaborar e de complementarse
ou máis ben dunha competición?
14:56
I know there's competition in terms
of funding, but what about the science?
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Sei que é competición polos fondos,
pero que pasa coa ciencia?
15:00
Wendy Freedman: In terms of the science,
they're very complementary.
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Wendy Freedman: Con respecto á ciencia,
trátase de complementarse.
15:03
The telescopes that are in space,
the telescopes on the ground,
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Os telescopios que están no espazo,
os que están no chan,
15:06
telescopes with different
wavelength capability,
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os telescopios con distintas
lonxitudes de onda,
incluso telescopios parecidos,
pero con instrumentación diferente --
15:09
telescopes even that are similar,
but different instruments --
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15:12
they will all look at different parts
of the questions that we're asking.
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Mirarán para distintas partes
das preguntas que nos facemos.
15:16
So when we discover other planets,
we'll be able to test those observations,
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Entón, cando descubramos outros planetas,
e poidamos comprobar os datos,
15:19
we'll be able to measure the atmospheres,
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poderemos medir as atmosferas,
15:21
be able to look in space
with very high resolution.
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miraremos cara ao espazo
cunha gran resolución.
15:24
So, they're very complementary.
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Entón, son complementarios.
15:26
You're right about
the funding, we compete;
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Tes razón no de que
competimos polos fondos
15:28
but scientifically,
it's very complementary.
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pero científicamente,
trátase de complementariedade.
15:31
BG: Wendy, thank you very much
for coming to TEDGlobal.
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BG: Wendy, moitísimas grazas
por vir a TEDGlobal.
15:33
WF: Thank you.
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WF: Grazas.
15:35
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
Translated by Lúa Cruz Fernández
Reviewed by Xusto Rodriguez

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Wendy Freedman - Astronomer
Wendy Freedman led the construction of the Giant Magellan Telescope, a massive earthbound observatory.

Why you should listen
Wendy Freedman and her colleagues raced to build the world’s first next-generation telescope. The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), in northern Chile, is one of three mega-telescopes currently under construction in the Atacama desert region (The others are the ALMA and the European Extremely Large Telescope, E-ELT).
 
The GMT will have 10 times more resolution than the Hubble Space Telescope. When it is finished, Freedman could be among those who answer one of astronomy’s greatest riddles: are there any other Earth-like planets out there? No stranger to big questions, Freedman and her colleagues at the Carnegie Observatories are also refining the measurement of the Hubble Constant, which could change our understanding of the speed of our expanding universe.
More profile about the speaker
Wendy Freedman | Speaker | TED.com