Launched in 2009, Kepler stared at one small patch of the Milky Way for four years straight.

开普勒于2009年发射，连续盯着一小块银河系盯了四年。

《The Science of Interstellar》《《星际穿越》中的科学》

Compared to stars, planets are too tiny for Kepler to spot, but it can detect their shadows.

对于开普勒来说，与恒星相比，行星太小难以发现，但它能探察它们的阴影。

《The Science of Interstellar》《《星际穿越》中的科学》

Natalie has helped rewrite that story as mission scientist for NASA's Kepler space telescope.

作为美国宇航局，开普勒太空望远镜任务科学家娜塔莉已经帮助重写了该故事。

《The Science of Interstellar》《《星际穿越》中的科学》

Kepler's objective is very simple. It's to determine the fraction of stars in our galaxy that harbor potentially habitable Earth-size planets.

开普勒的目标很简单。就是确定我们星系的恒星部分确定在一个地球大小的星球，适合居住的可能性。

《The Science of Interstellar》《《星际穿越》中的科学》

So if you were living on a world like Kepler-16b, you would see in the sky two stars rising in the east, setting in the west, continuously changing position as they orbit one another.

所以如果你生活在一个像开普勒-16B这样的世界上，你会看到天上有两颗恒星东升西落，由于它们互相绕行，不断地变换着位置。

《The Science of Interstellar》《《星际穿越》中的科学》

The Kepler spacecraft makes use of that fact waiting for a planet in its orbit about the star to pass directly between the disc of the star and the spacecraft, and the telescope perceives that as a dimming of light.

开普勒宇宙航天器利用这一事实，在行星绕恒星运行轨道等候直接穿过恒星与航天器之间的圆面，望远镜将其作为光影察觉到。

《The Science of Interstellar》《《星际穿越》中的科学》