12月的夜空有什么“美景”

12月的夜空有什么“美景”

Santa's sleigh isn't even packed yet, but the December sky already has a few celestial gifts at the ready to close out 2019. So warm up your gloves by the fire, heat up the hot chocolate, and bundle up for a month of spectacular meteor showers, stargazing, special space deliveries and the winter solstice.

圣誕老人的雪橇還沒裝好，但12月的天空已經(jīng)準備好了一些天上的禮物，準備在2019年結(jié)束。所以，把你的手套放在火邊暖一暖，把熱巧克力熱一熱，把自己包裹起來，享受一個月的壯觀流星雨、觀星、太空快遞和冬至景象。

You'll need to bundle up to see the night sky in Slovenia's Pokljuka forest. (Photo: Dreamy Pixel [CC by 4.0]/Wikimedia Commons)

Russia makes a special delivery (Dec 1.)

俄羅斯的特殊快遞(12月1日)

Russia's unmanned Progress cargo spacecraft is used to deliver supplies to the International Space Station. (Photo: NASA [public domain]/Wikimedia Commons)

A Russian Soyuz rocket will launch the 74th Progress cargo delivery spacecraft to the International Space Station around 6:29 a.m. EST. The Progress MS-13 will be launched atop a Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. This is only the fourth time Russia's Roscosmos space agency has attempted such a speedy delivery; what used to take two days of traveling has been cut down to just 3.5 hours, similar to their last delivery in July.

俄羅斯聯(lián)盟號火箭將于美國東部時間6點29分左右向國際空間站發(fā)射第74艘進步號貨運飛船，進步號MS-13將由聯(lián)盟號2.1 A運載火箭從哈薩克斯坦拜科努爾航天發(fā)射場發(fā)射。這是俄羅斯宇航局第四次嘗試如此快速的發(fā)射;過去需要兩天旅行的時間被縮短到只有3.5小時，與7月份的上一次運送時間差不多。

Bask in the glow of the full Cold Moon (Dec. 12)

沐浴在滿月的冷光中(12月12日)

Moonrise over Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge in Wyoming. (Photo: Tom Koerner/USFWS [public domain]/Wikimedia Commons)

While the Old Farmer's Almanac referred to December's big lunar event as the Cold Full Moon, native people of North America also referred to it as the Big Spirit Moon, Blue Moon and the Snow Moon. In New Zealand, where summer will soon be underway, this lunar season is described as "birds are now sitting in their nests."

《舊農(nóng)歷年鑒》把12月的大月亮事件稱為寒冷的滿月，而北美土著人也把它稱為“大精靈月”、“藍月亮”和“雪月”。在夏天即將來臨的新西蘭，這個農(nóng)歷的季節(jié)被描述為“鳥兒們正坐在它們的巢里。”

Gaze upon the mysterious Geminids meteor shower (Dec. 13-14)

凝視神秘的雙子座流星雨(12月13-14日)

The Geminid meteors put on a good show — if you're willing to brave the cold. (Photo: Asim Patel [CC by SA 3.0]/Wikimedia Commons)

One of the most prolific meteor showers of the year, with 120 to 160 shooting stars per hour, the Geminids are also one of the most scientifically perplexing. Whereas most meteor showers come from periodic comets shedding debris as they pass around the sun, the Geminids are apparently tied to an asteroid named 3200 Phaethon.

雙子座流星雨是一年中最多產(chǎn)的流星雨之一，每小時有120到160顆流星。雙子座流星雨也是最令人費解的科學(xué)現(xiàn)象之一。大多數(shù)流星雨是由周期性的彗星在環(huán)繞太陽時留下的碎片形成的，而雙子座流星雨顯然與一顆名為3200法厄同的小行星有關(guān)。

SpaceX takes off (Dec. 15)

SpaceX升空(12月15日)

The Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket lifts off from Vandenberg AFB SLC-4E with the CASSIOPE satellite in 2013. (Photo: SpaceX [public domain]/Wikimedia Commons)

Delayed from Nov. 11, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the JCSAT 18/Kacific 1 communications satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The satellite is jointly owned by SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation of Japan and Kacific Broadband Satellites of Singapore, and will provide mobile and broadband services across the Asia-Pacific region.

從11月11日開始，獵鷹9號火箭將在佛羅里達州卡納維拉爾角空軍基地發(fā)射JCSAT 18/Kacific 1號通信衛(wèi)星。該衛(wèi)星由日本SKY Perfect JSAT公司和新加坡Kacific寬帶衛(wèi)星公司共同擁有，將在亞太地區(qū)提供移動和寬帶服務(wù)。

Celebrate the winter solstice (Dec. 21)

慶祝冬至(12月21日)

A hiker in Iceland observing the winter solstice in December 2014. (Photo: Hafsteinn Robertsson [CC by 2.0]/Flickr)

The winter solstice, that brief moment when the sun is exactly over the Tropic of Capricorn, will take place on Dec. 21 at 11:19 p.m. EST.

冬至是太陽正好越過南回歸線的短暫時刻，將在美國東部時間12月21日晚上11點19分開始。

Catch the Ursids meteor shower (Dec. 21-22)

看小熊座流星雨(12月21-22日)

A shooting star captured over Amphitrite Point Lighthouse in Ucluelet, British Columbia. (Photo: Freebilly Photography/Shutterstock)

While the Ursids have a tough act to follow after the spectacular Geminids, this annual meteor shower is still capable of throwing down up to 10 shooting stars per hour. This year, "we're not expecting an outburst," Cooke told Space.com. "But the Ursids have surprised us before."

盡管小熊座流星雨很難追上壯觀的雙子座流星雨，但每年的流星雨仍能以每小時10顆的速度落下。今年，庫克告訴Space.com網(wǎng)站:“我們預(yù)計不會爆發(fā)。可是小熊座流星雨家的人以前曾使我們大吃一驚。”

Originating from debris shed by Comet 8P/Tuttle, the Ursids appear to stream from the constellation Ursa Minor. Bundle up, get comfortable, and gaze up on the evening of the 21st or 22nd to catch the peak of this holiday shower.

小熊座流星雨起源于8P/Tuttle彗星的碎片，似乎來自于小熊星座。穿上你的衣服，舒服一點，在21日或22日的晚上抬頭看一看，就能趕上這個假日流星雨的高峰期。