I almost touched the moon

Chapter 149 Tidal Lock

It was past eleven o'clock in the evening when we drove to the northern part of the Atacama Desert. The temperature had dropped to single digits, and the occasional gusts of wind made the air feel even colder.

Fortunately, Cheng Che had checked relevant information before coming and knew that the temperature difference between day and night here was extremely large, so he prepared two windbreakers and told Wen Song to put on the clothes before she got off the car.

Wen Song smiled and said "I see", then looked at his watch and said, "There are only 52 minutes left. I hope I can find your gift before then."

"What gift?" Cheng Che looked at her excitedly, "My gift, didn't my sister give it to me?"

As he said this, he stretched out his hand and showed her the ring on his ring finger.

Wen Song shook his head and said, "It's a secret. You've always said I'm not romantic. I hope that after you see me, you'll think that I'm actually quite romantic."

"Sister, did you bury some treasure for me in the desert?" Cheng Che took her hand and asked, "Or did you really pick the stars from the sky and give them to me?"

"I told you it's a secret, don't ask me anymore."

After Wen Song finished speaking, she took out a tent storage bag, a lens storage box for the astronomical telescope, and a stand storage bag from the trunk. Just as Cheng Che was about to go over to help her, she had already put all of them on the ground, opened the tent storage bag and started to prepare for assembly, which made Cheng Che feel a little ashamed.

He immediately walked over, half-knelt on the ground and said, "Let me do it."

"Ok." Wen Song nodded, "Then I'll go assemble the telescope."

In just over ten minutes, Wen Song had assembled the telescope, connected the camera and laptop, and adjusted the parameters. When he walked over to Cheng Che, he found that he was still assembling the tent according to the instructions and had just assembled the ground nails.

"Let me do it." She walked to Cheng Che's side, without even reading the instruction manual, spread the tent flat on the ground, inflated the tent in no time, and loosened the drawstring to secure the tent. The whole process took no more than five minutes.

Cheng Che was quite surprised when he saw this scene. He knew that Wen Song was good at hands-on work, but he did not expect that she could assemble the camping tent so easily even though he had difficulty reading the instructions.

"Sister, I'm so useless, what should I do?" He hugged Wen Song from behind, "Please don't despise me, okay?"

"How can you be useless?" Wen Song frowned unhappily after hearing his words, kissed him and said,

"Don't say that. Every time we go out for field observation, we have to bring our own tents and equipment, so we must be familiar with it. It also took me a long time to assemble the tent and telescope for the first time. Don't say that about yourself. The rest of the inflatable bed, chair, mobile power bank, sleeping bag, etc., I'll leave it to you."

"Okay, leave it to me." Cheng Che lowered his head and kissed her eyes. He couldn't help but praise her, "BB, you are really amazing. Tell me, did I really save the galaxy to have such a perfect girlfriend like you?"

Wen Song smiled, pointed to the sky and said, "The Milky Way is right there, just ask it."

When Cheng Che looked up, he saw the broad Milky Way passing through the vast night sky, with stars twinkling and pouring down from above his head, deep and picturesque. In the center of the dazzling starry sky, there was endless darkness, which was a little abrupt and mysterious.

"Why is it black in the middle?" Cheng Che turned his head and asked.

"It's a black hole." Wen Song explained, "The center of the Milky Way is a supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A, which is about four million times the mass of the sun and is many light-years away from the earth. The entire Milky Way revolves around this Sagittarius A."

Cheng Che nodded as if he understood, but he felt a little dizzy just by listening to Wen Song's simple explanation.

"Ache, come here." Wen Song called him from in front of the telescope, "This is Saturn in the southeast sky."

Looking through the eyepiece, he saw Saturn surrounded by a halo. It was so shining in the dark night. The rings surrounding the planet looked like the most dazzling diamond necklace.

"So beautiful." He couldn't help but exclaimed, "Saturn's rings are really beautiful, just like diamonds. Baby, do you want a diamond necklace in the shape of Saturn? I'll design it for you, okay?"

"The main component is water ice, and it has nothing to do with diamonds." Wen Song laughed twice and explained to him, "When comets, asteroids and other small celestial bodies approach Saturn, Saturn's gravity exceeds the Roche limit and causes them to disintegrate. They cannot fall into the surface of Saturn, and they cannot escape Saturn's gravity. They can only surround Saturn and form star rings.

In fact, the four gas planets in the solar system all have rings, including Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. Among them, Jupiter's rings are the least obvious. Because they are all dust and small stones, the reflectivity is very low, so it is impossible to observe them through a telescope on Earth.

Saturn's rings are mainly composed of ice, so they have high reflectivity and their density is greater than that of Saturn itself, so they are very obvious.

Therefore, there is nothing special about star rings. It is just that because gas planets are larger in size and mass than rocky planets, their gravity is also greater, so the number of celestial bodies that break the Roche limit is also greater, which is why star rings are formed. "

Cheng Che felt a little ashamed after hearing her words. He and Wen Song came all the way to Chile, not to listen to her astronomy class.

He said helplessly: "I know, but how can it not be special? Isn't this just like how I treat my sister? I am attracted to you, but I can't really get into your heart, and I can't leave you, so I can only be your star ring."

After hearing what he said, Wen Song, although he was not cold, still got goose bumps all over his body and frowned. He looked at him and said, "Stop Roche, ein bisschen absto?end." (Stop Roche, this is a bit disgusting).

"What?" Cheng Che hugged her, bit her lips gently and said, "I'm so affectionate, and you actually said I'm disgusting? Bad woman, you are such a heartless bad woman."

"But, it's really a bit..." Wen Song looked embarrassed, "Stop talking about this, okay? Besides, what do you mean you can't get into my heart? Who else do I have in my heart besides you? I'm so annoyed that it's like this every day, you're being unreasonable all day long, you childish ghost! If you keep being unreasonable, I'll throw you into the desert to feed the wolves!"

Hearing her say this, Cheng Che finally felt much happier. He didn't like Wen Song's always serious and indifferent look. Her occasional anger and helplessness made him feel that she was more real.

Perhaps considering that his birthday was in more than half an hour, Wen Song did not argue with him, but adjusted the direction of the telescope, and two somewhat blurry celestial bodies appeared in the picture.

"This is Pluto," Wen Song pointed at the slightly larger, fuzzy celestial body and said, "but it's really too far away from the Earth. The current distance from the Earth is about 37 AU, and 1 AU is the distance between the Earth and the Sun. In other words, Pluto's current distance from the Earth is 37 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun."

"Since they are so far away, why do you want to study Kuiper Belt objects? They are difficult to observe, right?"

"Yes, but there are also many blank areas. Most of the research directions of the eight planets have been occupied, so there are not so many gaps."

Wen Song smiled and said to him, "Look at this small celestial body next to Pluto. It's Charon, Pluto I. But strictly speaking, they are more like a binary asteroid system, because Pluto and Charon move around their common barycentre, and they are tidally locked to each other."

"You know what tidal locking means, right?"

Cheng Che nodded and said, "I know. So Pluto and Charon always have only one side facing each other?"

"Yes." Wen Song smiled, "It is for this reason that Pluto was removed from the ranks of planets. It has no way to clear the small celestial bodies in its orbit, and it is tidally locked by its own satellite.

Previously, our professor said in class that Pluto and Charon are tidally locked to each other and accompany each other in the Kuiper Belt, which is more than 30 AU away from the sun and where almost no sunlight can pass through. They are the only binary star system in the solar system, which is very romantic.

At that time, I thought, what's so romantic about it? If it weren't for the tidal lock with Charon, Pluto would not have been removed from the ranks of planets. But after meeting you, I seem to understand. "

Cheng Che was somewhat moved and puzzled after hearing her words. He looked at her and asked, "Why?"

"Because, Che, no matter what I do, you are always with me." Wen Song smiled sweetly, "Just like you said, I have always been a person with low emotional intelligence, no romantic sense, a little withdrawn, hate socializing, and a bit weird personality.

But after meeting you, I feel like I was tidally locked by you. I just want to show my best side in front of you, but I am also afraid that you will be disappointed in me. "

After listening to her words, Cheng Che hugged her and said, "Sister, don't think like that. You don't need to force yourself in front of me. No matter what you are like, I will love you very much."

"I know." Wen Song looked at him affectionately and spoke slowly, "So after I met you, I felt that if I was Pluto, then you would be my Charon. No matter what happens, no matter who I am, no matter where I am, you will love me and accompany me."

As time goes by, the hands on the watch overlap and fall to zero.

"Ache, happy birthday." Wen Song leaned over and kissed his cheek gently, his gentle tone unable to hide his deep affection.

"Thank you for being born 22 years ago, thank you for appearing in my life 357 days ago, thank you for falling in love with me, thank you for staying with me for so long. Che, I love you."

The stars tonight are already bright and dazzling enough, but Cheng Che feels that the amber eyes of the person in front of him are brighter than the stars in the sky.

In front of him, close at hand, Wen Song smiled, her beautiful eyes were filled with tears, and she looked up at him with deep affection. She was the brightest star in his heart, whether it was a star ring or a companion star, he only wanted to be by her side and accompany her forever.

The Kuiper Belt is indeed dark and cold, but Pluto has Charon by its side, accompanying it through its 248-year orbital cycle, year after year.

In Cheng Che's heart, it is the same for him and Wen Song. Two lonely souls meet and lock onto each other's tides. He will always be with her through her future journey.