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When scientists try to understand the geology of the solar system, one of their most powerful tools is Earth.
当科学家试图理解太阳系地质情况的时候，他们最强大的工具之一就是地球。
Our planet shares a lot with some of our neighbors, from our atmosphere up top all the way down to the spinning core.
我们所在的地球与一些邻近的星球有很多共同特征，无论是上方的大气层还是旋转的地心。
Sometimes, though, astronomers find things that don't look like anything here at home, places that couldn't even exist on Earth.
不过，有时候，天文学家也会发现一些跟地球完全不同的特征，以及地球上永远不可能存在的地方。
And over the years, we've discovered some very unusual mountains.
过去这些年来，我们发现了一些不同寻常的山岳。
Take Rheasilvia, a gigantic mountain on Vesta, the second-biggest object in the asteroid belt.
以雷亚希尔维亚盆地为例。雷亚希尔维亚盆地是灶神星上的一座巨大山脉，它也是小行星带里第二大物体。
What makes Rheasilvia so impressive isn't just how tall it is, but how tall it is relative to everything else.
雷亚希尔维亚盆地的夺目之处并不在于它的高度，而是它相比其他事物的高度差。
At about 22 kilometers high, it's nearly three times the height of Mt. Everest, even though Vesta is only 500 kilometers across.
近22千米高的它是珠穆朗玛峰的近3倍高，而灶神星本身也只有500千米的方圆。
That would be like a mountain 250 kilometers high here on Earth, tall enough to put you well into space!
这就像是地球上有一座250千米高的山脉，这个高度足以让我们只手遮天了。
Rheasilvia is more than just a mountain: it's also an impact crater, which might sound kind of strange since we don't normally think of holes making mountains.
雷亚希尔维亚盆地不只是山脉而已：它还是个陨石坑。这一点听起来有些奇怪，因为一般情况下，我们认为陨石坑是不会形成山脉的。
But the process of an asteroid slamming into the surface is so powerful that the ground briefly acts like a liquid and splashes back up, like a droplet of water falling into a pond.
但小行星飞入其表面的过程冲击力太过强大，以至于地面所做的反应就像是液体一样溅了出去，好似一滴水珠落入了池塘中。
As everything cools down, that splash solidifies into a mountain called the central uplift.
随着温度的冷却，飞溅出去的部分凝固成山脉，也就是中央隆起带。
This process happens for basically every crater above a certain size, and we do have the remnants of some here on Earth.
几乎每个具有超过一定尺寸的火山口都会发生这样的过程，就连地球上还残存着一些残留物。
The impact that formed Rheasilvia, though, must have been astonishingly powerful.
形成雷亚希尔维亚盆地的影响一定是非常强大的。
Scientists think its remnants became some of the most commonly-found types of meteorites.
科学家认为，其残留物变成了一些最为常见的陨石类型。
A central uplift isn't the only way an impact can form a mountain.
中央隆起带并非通过冲击力形成山脉的唯一方法。
Mercury is home to one of the solar system's most mysterious mountain ranges, and for decades astronomers have thought it might be the result of an impact, but on the other side of the planet.
水星上有太阳系最神秘的山脉之一。过去几十年来，天文学家一直以为这个山脉可能是撞击产生的结果，只不过在水星的另一边。
This area doesn't have an official name, and it's a far cry from the peak of Rheasilvia.
这个区域没有官方名字，它跟雷亚希尔维亚盆地大相径庭。
The tops of these hills only rise from about 0.8-1.8 kilometers above the surface.
这座山脉的峰顶海拔只有0.8-1.8千米。
What's more impressive is what's on the planet's far side: Caloris Planitia, an impact crater so large, you could put three Vestas inside it with room to spare.
更让人惊奇的是水星反面的物体竟然是卡洛里盆地。这是一个极大的陨石坑，即便把3个灶神星放进去，还有很大的富余空间。
This is the site of one of the solar system's most violent collisions, and its effects were global.
这里曾发生过太阳系里冲击力最强的一次撞击，而其影响范围很大。
When planetary scientists assembled the first surface maps of Mercury in the 1970s, they noticed something weird.
上世纪70年代，行星科学家汇集成了水星的第一幅表面地图，他们注意到了一些奇怪的事情。
These strange, low hills weren't just on the other side of the planet from Caloris Planitia, they were exactly opposite, at what's called the antipodal point.
这些奇异又很低的山峰并没有在卡洛里盆地的相反面，而是恰恰相反——在对映点上。
It's too perfect to be a coincidence: the impact must have created the mountain range through the planet.
这个巧合难得一见：这次撞击的冲击力一定形成了该行星表面的山脉。
As impossible as that sounds, it probably happened because of Mercury's geometry.
同样不可思议的是：这一切之所以发生，很有可能是因为水星的几何结构。
Mercury is a virtually-perfect sphere, unlike Earth, whose fast rotation makes it fatter at the equator and shorter at the poles.
水星是一个近乎完美的星球，跟地球不一样的是——水星转速极快，这让它的赤道很宽，而两极很窄。
When the Caloris impact occurred, it sent massive shockwaves through the planet.
卡洛里盆地产生撞击影响时，穿过水星发射出了很多大型冲击波。
Because the path to the other side is the same distance in every direction, these waves converged at the antipode.
由于通往相反面的路径在每个方向上的距离相等，所以这些冲击波会在对映点上汇聚。
Their combined strength deformed Mercury's surface and created the mountains.
冲击波的合力让水星表面发生变形，并产生了这些山脉。
It's also possible that with less gravity and no atmosphere, material ejected from the crater traveled halfway around the planet to land on the far side.
还很有可能的一点是：由于重力更小而且不存在大气层，所以陨石坑发射出的物质会跋涉水星表面的千山万水来到相反面。
Between the shockwaves and all that flying debris, Mercury ended up with one of the solar system's most intriguing spots.
在冲击波以及四处飞散的残骸的共同作用下，水星最终成为太阳系里最吸引人的地方之一。
Another is found at the other end of the solar system, way out on freezing Pluto.
还有一个星体处于太阳系的另一端，它就是冥王星。
There, at the edge of its icy heart, lies a peak no taller than the Rocky Mountains, but much, much cooler.
冥王星内核的边缘是冰组成的，那里有一座山峰。这座山峰虽然没有落基山脉高，但却比落基山脉冷得多。
Like, figuratively and literally. It's named Wright Mons after the brothers of airplane fame, and it's one of the best candidates for a cryovolcano.
无论从文学角度还是现实角度来说，都真地要冷许多。它的名字是赖特山，是以发明飞机的著名两兄弟名字命名的。这座山麦也是极有可能从成为冰火山的山脉。
These volcanoes aren't too different from the ones you're familiar with, except for what makes up their lava.
这里的火山跟我们熟悉的山脉非常不同，只有一个相似点——岩浆的组成。
Pluto's crust is made of water ice, but, in the seriously cold temperatures of the outer solar system, that ice has many of the same properties as rock here on Earth.
冥王星的地壳是由冰组成的，但太阳系内贴近外部的部分温度极低，在这样的环境下，其冰跟地球上的岩石有很多一样的特质。
So it only makes sense that a volcano on Pluto would have lava made of liquid water, instead of liquid rock.
所以只有一种可能，那就是冥王星的岩浆是由液态水制成的，而不是液态岩石。
Scientists aren't certain that Wright Mons, or a nearby mountain that's also a candidate, are cryovolcanos.
科学家还不确定赖特山以及附近可能成为冰火山的另一座山是否是冰火山。
And it will probably be a long time before we get more observations of far-off Pluto.
但可能需要很长时间，我们才能对遥远的冥王星做更多的观测。
But cryovolcanoes do seem to be a thing in the solar system.
但冰火山看起来确实是太阳里的一种存在。
There's potential evidence for them on Saturn's moon Titan and on the asteroid Ceres.
有迹象表明，冰火山有可能在土卫六和小行星谷神星上存在。
It's not yet clear how they're possible in some of these places and that's what makes them so interesting.
目前还不确定冰火山为什么会有在这些地方出现的可能，但这就是它们吸引人的地方啊。
Every mountain reveals the history of the area around it, even if you can't see that history directly.
每座山脉都会揭示出与其周围地区有关的历史，不管我们是否能直观地了解这段历史。
And in space, that's a tool for learning about some seriously weird geology that we might never have known existed otherwise.
而在太空里，这是一种工具，可以用来了解一些非常奇异的地质结构。如果没有这样的工具，我们可能永远无法了解一些地质结构。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Space, and thanks especially to our Patreon community, your support is what makes this show possible!
感谢收看本期的《太空科学秀》，尤其要感谢我们的粉丝们，是你们的支持让我们的节目走到今天。
If you're not yet a patron and want to help us keep exploring the strangest things in the universe, just check out patreon.com/scishow.
如果您还不是我们的粉丝，并想帮助我们持续探索太空中的奇异现象，就请登录patreon.com/scishow吧。
