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Lunar Eclipse Used to Prove Earth Was Round 月蚀证明地球是球形

详细资料: 创建于 2009年2月02日; 最后更新于 2024年5月25日; 发布于 2012年4月30日; 作者：Mike Lee; 点击数：318

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Throughout the history of mankind, the heavens above have unveiled secrets to the observant. This year, the International Year of Astronomy 2009, we focus our attention on some of these discoveries – from ancient to modern 贯穿人类历史，宇宙天际已经向观察敏锐者揭露了许多奥秘。由于今年二００九年是「国际天文年」，因此本刊聚焦在古往今来的一些天文发现上

There’s more to a lunar eclipse than mere spectacle and natural wonder.

月蚀其实不只是天文奇景和大自然奇观而已。

Aristotle, it turns out used lunar eclipses to prove that Earth was not flat – but spherical – back in 350 B.C., said Bradley Schaefer, a professor of astronomy at Louisiana State University.

据「刘易斯安纳州立大学」天文学教授布莱德利．雪佛指出，事实上亚里士多德早在公元前三百五十年时，便用月蚀来证明地球不是平的──而是球形的。

So when the shadow of Earth creeps over the face of the moon [during an eclipse], you can retrace this critical juncture in the evolution of Western thought when observation and reason started to eclipse superstition and myth. And, said Schaefer, you don’t need a telescope or a Ph.D. in astronomy: Aristotle didn’t have either.

因此，当（月）蚀（译注：eclipse[蚀]的现象不只月蚀，还有日蚀等，但本文大多指月蚀）期间，地球的影子遮住了月球表面之际，你可藉以追溯到西方思想演进的重要关头──也就是当观测和理性开始侵蚀迷信和神话之时。此外，雪佛也表示，你并不需要望远镜或天文学博士学位才能办到：因为亚里士多德当时也是两样全无。

Reason and vision 理性与远见

Armed with nothing but reason and vision, the Greek philosopher pointed out that the shadow of our planet looks like a circle or a portion of one. That doesn’t prove by itself that Earth isn’t a circular flat disk, said Schaefer. But if we did, in fact, live on a planet shaped like a dinner plate, our shadow should only look circular when the moon is straight overhead. If it’s anywhere else the shadow would appear elongated.

仅仅装备着理性和远见，亚里士多德这位希腊哲学家就能够指出，我们所在的地球这颗行星的影子，看起来像个圆形，或是圆形的一部分。雪佛指出，虽然光是这点本身尚无法证明地球并非扁平、圆形的碟状物，但若人类果真是居住在状似餐盘的行星上，那么地球的影子应该只会在月亮位于正上方时才呈圆形，而若月亮位置有所改变，那么地球的影子应该会随之变得更长才对。

Aristotle reasoned that the only object whose shadow always looks like a circle from any angle is a sphere. He used several other observations to argue his case. The philosopher noticed, for example, that if you travel north you see the stars in different positions in the sky, the northern ones moving higher and southern ones disappearing over the horizon – as if you were moving around on the surface of a sphere.

亚里士多德因而推论，只有球体的影子才会无论在任何角度都呈圆形。他还运用数个其他观测结果来证明自己的论点。例如，这位哲学家注意到，如果我们往北走，会发现星星在天空中的位置会改变，北方的星星会移往天空中更高的位置，而南方的星星却会消失在天际──就彷佛我们是在球体表面上移动一般。

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spherical [ˋsfɛrək!] adj. 球的；球面的 round, like a ball

astronomy [əsˋtrɑnəmɪ] n. 天文学 the scientific study of the universe and of objects which exist naturally in space, such as the moon, the sun, planets and stars

creep [krip] v. 蹑手蹑足地走；缓慢地行进

retrace [rɪˋtres] v. 追溯，探究……的源流

superstition [͵supɚˋstɪʃən] n. 迷信；迷信行为 belief is not based on human reason or scientific knowledge, but is connected with old ideas about magic

myth [mɪθ] n. 神话 an ancient story or set of stories, especially explaining, in a literary way, the early history of a group of people or about natural events and facts

elongated [ɪˋlɔŋgetɪd] adj. 细长的 longer and thinner than usual

horizon [həˋraɪzn] n. 地平线

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Sometimes right, sometimes wrong 正谬参半

But Aristotle was wrong on many other things. Although the less influential philosopher Democritus argued that the stars were other suns, Aristotle insisted stars must be much smaller entities – otherwise they would have to exist unimaginably far away.

不过，亚里士多德在很多其他事物上倒是犯了错误。例如，即使当时影响力较小的哲学家德谟克利特主张，星星其实是和太阳一样的恒星，但亚里士多德却坚称，星星一定是体积小很多的实体──否则这些星星一定是处在难以想象的极遥远之处（译注：从地球上看起来才会如此微小）。

Eclipses themselves, while used to bust a myth, also inspired dozens more. Many people around the world regarded them as omens pointing to the collapse of empires or the end of the world. A popular myth in medieval times was that a dragon devoured the moon during an eclipse, said Steve McCluskey, a historian.

虽然（月）蚀的现象被用来戳破一个神话，但它们却也引发了更多迷思。世界各地有许多人视（月）蚀为恶兆，认为它们预示着帝国的崩溃或世界末日。历史学家史提夫．麦克洛斯基表示，中世纪广为流传的一种神话是，（月）蚀发生期间有龙把月亮吞噬了。

Some of these fearful ideas stem from the seemingly sporadic nature of eclipses, he said. Once astronomers learned to predict them, eclipses went from a fearful breach of nature’s harmony to a reassuring proof of it.

他指出，这些充满恐惧的想法部份源自于蚀看似偶发的特性，等到一旦天文学家学会预测它们的发生之后，蚀便从破坏大自然和谐的可怕现象，摇身一变为能证实大自然和谐的可靠证据了。

Astronomers from different cultures noticed that eclipses occur about every six months, McCluskey said, when the moon passes through the same plane in which Earth rotates around the sun. But sometimes this happens when it’s daytime here, so observers in any given place see an eclipse only about half the time.

麦克洛斯基表示，来自不同文化背景的天文学家都不约而同地注意到，（月）蚀大约每半年发生一次，发生在月亮行经地球环绕太阳轨道的相同平面之际。不过，由于有时月蚀发生在白天，因此无论位在任何地点的观测者都只能看到约半数的月蚀。

For those in the right place to see an eclipse, the moon doesn’t completely disappear, but instead usually changes color.

若有人恰好在正确的位置上观看待（月）蚀，则会发现月亮并未完全消失，通常只会变换色泽而已。

That’s because some sunlight skirts around Earth, bent by our atmosphere toward the moon and then reflected back. Oxygen, ozone and other molecules in the atmosphere distort the light – absorbing and reemitting blue light in a process called scattering. That leaves more of the red wavelengths to pass through – thus making eclipses and sunsets appear orange or red.

这是因为有些阳光会环绕在地球的边缘，又受到地球大气层的折射效应而弯向月球，之后再反射回来所致。大气层中的氧气、臭氧和其他分子会折射光线──在这个称为散射的过程中，蓝光会被吸收并散射掉，而使得更多红色波长得以穿透通过──导致（月）蚀和落日变得看似橘色或红色。

During an eclipse, this phenomenon can transform the moon to blood red, dusky pink, pumpkin orange or dull gray, depending on volcanic ash and other atmospheric conditions.

在（月）蚀期间，上述现象可能把月亮变为血红色、灰红色、南瓜橘或暗灰色，而实际色泽要视火山灰或其他大气层情况而定。

−by Faye Flam

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