星期三升起一輪黑月：它是什么?我們能看到它嗎?

星期三升起一輪黑月：它是什么?我們能看到它嗎?

There’s a black moon on the rise.

黑月在升起。

On Wednesday night, North Americans will get a rare chance to see a “black moon,” which occurs only about every two and a half years, according to Space.com.

據(jù)space.com報道，周三晚上，北美洲人將有難得的機會看到“黑月”，這種情況大約每兩年半才出現(xiàn)一次。

To be clear, the moon won’t suddenly turn black — not exactly, at least.

需要澄清的是，月亮不會突然變黑——至少不會完全變黑。

So what does a “black moon” mean?

“黑月”是什么意思?

A typical lunar cycle includes one new moon every 30 days or so, when the sun’s light shines from behind the moon, leaving the side of the moon facing our fair planet in the dark — invisible to Earthlings below. But when we get two new moons in the same month, the second is known as a black moon.

一個典型的月球周期是每30天左右有一個新月，這時太陽的光線從月球后面照射過來，使得月球的一側(cè)在黑暗中面對著我們美麗的星球——地球人在下面是看不見的。但是當(dāng)我們在一個月里有兩個新月時，第二個就被稱為黑月。

Stargazers will be even more disappointed to find out this month’s black moon will be situated as close to Earth as its orbit allows, qualifying this new moon also as a supermoon. If it were lit, our cosmic neighbor would appear much larger and lower than usual.

如果天文觀測者發(fā)現(xiàn)這個月的黑月盡可能地靠近地球，也被稱為超級月亮，那么他們將會更加失望，因為如果它被照亮，我們的宇宙鄰居將會比平常顯得更大更低。

On the bright — er, dark side, a new moon also creates the perfect opportunity to catch a flying comet, as meteor showers are more active this time of year. Astronomers say the best time to turn your eyes to the skies will be at 11:13 p.m. EDT, when the new moon officially begins and the heavens are at their darkest.

在這一面明亮一面黑暗的時刻，新月也創(chuàng)造了捕捉彗星的完美機會，因為每年這個時候流星雨更為活躍。天文學(xué)家說，將你的眼睛轉(zhuǎn)向天空的最佳時間將是美國東部夏令時11:13，那時新月正式開始，天空是最黑暗的。