十年罕見的天體秀 五大行星同時現身

Five planets will parade across the dawn Sky early Wednesday in a rare celestial spectacle set to repeat every morning until late next month.

週三凌晨，五顆行星將列隊穿過黎明時分的天空。這一罕見天象可能每天都會出現，直到下月底。

Headlining the planetary performance are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter. It will be the first time in more than a decade that the fab five will be simultaneously visible to the naked eye, according to Jason Kendall, who is on the board of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York.

這場行星表演的主角分別是水星、金星、火星、土星和木星。據紐約業餘天文愛好者協會(Amateur Astronomers Association of New York)委員賈森·肯德爾(Jason Kendall)稱，這將是十多年來，人們首次能用肉眼同時看到五顆行星。

Admission is free, though stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere should plan to get up about 45 minutes before sunrise to catch the show. City dwellers can stay in their neighborhoods to watch, as long as they point their attention to the East, according to Mr. Kendall.

演出是免費的，但爲了能趕上觀賞這一奇景，北半球的天文愛好者應該在日出前大約45分鐘起牀。肯德爾表示，城市居民可以留在自己所在的社區觀看，只要把注意力集中在東方就行了。

“For Mercury you will need binoculars,” he said. “It will not jump out at you, but everybody should be able to see Venus and Jupiter.”

“觀看水星的時候需要用雙筒望遠鏡，”他說。“水星不會跳到你面前，但所有人應該都能看到金星和木星。”

Mr. Kendall said that the hardest task for viewers will be discerning the planets from stars twinkling in the sky. But he offers a simple trick: close one eye, stretch out your arm and slowly pass your thumb over a bright dot in the sky. If the dot slowly dims out when your thumb passes over it, it’s a planet. If it quickly blinks out, it’s a distant star.

肯德爾表示，觀看者最難的是分辨出閃爍的恆星和那些行星。不過他給出了一個簡單的訣竅：閉上一隻眼睛，伸出一條胳膊，讓大拇指瞄準空中的一個亮點慢慢移動。拇指經過時，亮點如果慢慢變暗便是行星，如果轉瞬消失便是遠方的恆星。

The show is expected to run from Jan. 20 until Feb. 20, but the peak time to see all five is from the end of January until the first week of February, when Mercury is at its highest points, according to Sky & Telescope. The display is made possible by the uncommon alignment of all five planets along what is called the “ecliptic” plane of their orbits according to Jim Green, the planetary science division director at NASA.

表演預計將從1月20日持續到2月20日，但同時看到五顆行星的最佳時間是從1月末到2月的第一週。據《天空和望遠鏡》(Sky & Telescope)雜誌稱，這期間水星處於最高點。NASA行星科學部門負責人吉姆·格林(Jim Green)稱，這一現象之所以成爲可能，是因爲五顆行星罕見地沿其軌道的“黃道”面排列成了一條線。

Each planet will appear in the sky one by one, starting Tuesday evening with Jupiter around 9:20 p.m. in New York. Mars will follow the gas giant’s solo debut, appearing as a reddish dot at approximately 1:11 a.m. E.S.T. Wednesday. Saturn enters next around 4:00 a.m., followed by Venus — the brightest orb — nearly an hour later. Mercury will join the ensemble last, taking the stage at around 6:17 a.m. It will last until the sun rises, at about 7:15 a.m. on Wednesday in New York, and makes it too bright to see the planets. The display will appear in the sky at similar times across the East Coast and before dawn across the northern Hemisphere.

從週二晚上開始，幾大行星將一個接一個地出現在紐約的上空。木星將在晚上9點20分左右，最先單獨出現在空中。繼木星這顆氣態巨行星之後，火星將在東部夏令時間週三凌晨1點11分左右出現。人們看到的火星將是一個略帶紅色的圓點。接下來，土星將在凌晨4點左右上場。再過近一個小時後，最亮的星球金星將登場。最後加入的水星將在早上6點17分左右上臺。這一景象將持續到日出，即紐約的週三早上7點15分左右。太陽升起後，因爲光線太亮，人們便看不到這些行星了。此情此景將在差不多的時間出現在整個東海岸上空，並在黎明前出現在整個北半球的上空。

“It’s not super often you get to see them all at the same time in the sky, it’s like seeing all of your friends at once,” said Jackie Faherty, an astronomer from the American Museum of Natural History. “There they are, the other rocks or balls of gas that are running around the sun.”

“同時在空中看到這五顆行星的機會不是特別常見，就像同時見到所有的朋友，”美國自然歷史博物館(American Museum of Natural History)的天文學專家傑基·法赫蒂(Jackie Faherty)說。“現在他們來了——其他那些圍繞着太陽旋轉的岩石或氣團。”

Those who miss the planetary alignment this time around will have another opportunity from Aug. 13 to 19, when the cosmic motley crew gives an encore performance, according to . That show will take place in the dusk sky, giving stargazers in the Southern Hemisphere the best vantage points.

錯過這一次行星排成一線景象的人，在8月13日到19日期間還有機會。據稱，在那期間，這些天體會再次奉上同樣的演出。屆時，舞臺將是黃昏時分的天空，南半球的天文愛好者將享有最佳視角。