The European Space Agency (ESA) announced recently it is on course to finalize a monumental 3D map of the Milky Way next year. Scientists will plot a billon stars—just 1 percent of those in our galaxy—on the Gaia Mission map.

欧洲航天局近期宣布计划明年完成的宏伟的银河系3D图在有条不紊的进行中。科学家们将会在盖亚任务图上探索10亿颗星星—而这仅是我们星系的百分之一。

Orbiting the sun at slow speed, the 33-foot-wide Gaia spacecraft has two telescopes that gather data with a measurement precision akin to gauging the diameter of a human hair from 600 miles away.

绕着太阳以低速运行的33英尺宽的盖亚飞船有两个望远镜，这两个望远镜的精确度可以达到从600米外探测人类头发的直径。

Mission manager Fred Jansen said Gaia has already collected about 500 billion different measurements. The ultra-precise measurements are “a revolution” forastrophysics, said Anthony Brown, head of the scientific consortium of humansprocessing Gaia’s data. So far, the mission’s data-gathering methods have enabled the identification of 400 million new stars and should open the doorfor other discoveries.

任务主管FredJansen介绍盖亚已经完成了5000亿的不同测量。人类处理盖亚数据的科学财团的负责人Anthony Brown说这种超精密测量对于天体物理学来说是一个“革命”。至今为止，盖亚任务收集的数据已经帮助识别了4亿的新星，也为其他的探索开启了一扇门。

But the project’sbenefits go far beyond measurements, said Gabriel J. Williams Jr., assistant professor of atmospheric physics at South Carolina’s College of Charleston.

南卡罗来纳州的查尔斯顿学院的大气物理学助理教授Gabriel J. Williams Jr.说这个项目带来的利益远不止于测量。

“Much of our knowledge is built on mathematical models and predictions,” he said. “Having observational evidence of the position and movement of stars would provide some insight into the structure and history of the Milky Way galaxy.”

“我们获得的大多数知识都是基于数学模型和预测上的”，他说，“而在星星的位置和运动上得到的观察证据则能让我们对银河系的结构和历史有所了解。”

Gaia also has enough sensitivity to detect  asteroids as well as several thousand near-Earth objects like comets and asteroids that could collide with Earth. Detection of unknown objects will alert ground-based observatories to any threat to our planet.

盖亚还可以敏感探测到小行星及几千个离地球很近的彗星和有可能撞击到地球的小行星。探测到那些未知的物体可以给予地球上的监测关于任何对于我们的星球有威胁的警告。

The project might also help solve questions about the amount and distribution of the mysterious invisible “dark matter” within the universe. Dark matter may make up nearly 85 percent of the universe’s matter, and it exerts a gravitational force on all stars. According to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, this gravitational pull affects stars as they move throughout their home galaxy. Using Gaia’s measurements will show “any deviations that cannot be explained by the visible matter will be dueto dark matter,” Williams said.

这个项目还可以帮助解决关于宇宙中神秘不可见的“暗物质”的数量和分布的问题。暗物质几乎组成了宇宙中差不多百分之八十五的物质，并且它为所有的星星提供了重力。根据爱因斯坦的广义相对论，这个重力使所有的星星绕着自己的母星系而运转。使用盖亚测量可以校对那些“凡不可见的物质就是暗物质”的偏差，威廉姆说。

Like all observational discoveries, this one should leave Christians with a sense of wonder. We see the stars have been set in their places, Williams said,revealing the consistency of God’s character: “His providence and faithfulness in meticulously designing the stars and ordaining their respective positions.”

如同所有的观察发现一样，这个也让基督徒们好奇。威廉姆说，我们看到星星都有自己的位置，这个显示了上帝的一致性：“祂在精密设计星星及安排其位置上的深谋远虑和信实”。

Stars have always elicited awe, as King David wrote in Psalm 8:3-4. And yet Williams stresses our understanding is “provisional.” Numerous fundamental questions of astrophysics have not been answered, and we do not have the current tools to answer all our questions, Williams noted.

星星总是引起我们的敬畏，正如大卫王在诗篇八章三到四节里写到的一样。

威廉姆还指出我们的理解都是暂时的。无数的天体物理学的问题都没有解决，我们目前为止也不能够解答所有的问题，威廉姆强调。

“This is a humbling realization, and what encourages my faith is that we know the same God who wrote His moral law clearly in the Scriptures is the same God who is upholding all of our natural laws with His powerful word,” Williams added. “This is our Father’s world and universe, and He is the sustainer of the things which we currently understand,as well as the mysteries beyond our grasp.”

“这是一个谦卑的认可，并且激励我们信仰的是我们知道那位在圣经中详细制定道德法律的神也是那位用祂大能的话语制定一切自然规律的神。”威廉姆补充道。“这是我们天父的世界和宇宙，祂是我们现在所能了解的一切事物的维持者，也是那些超越我们认知的神秘事物的持有者。”