如何识别天空中的发光物

2021年11月14日

How to Identify that Light in the Sky
Illustration Credit & Copyright: HK (The League of Lost Causes)

Explanation: What is that light in the sky? Perhaps one of humanity’s more common questions, an answer may result from a few quick observations. For example — is it moving or blinking? If so, and if you live near a city, the answer is typically an airplane, since planes are so numerous and so few stars and satellites are bright enough to be seen over the din of artificial city lights. If not, and if you live far from a city, that bright light is likely a planet such as Venus or Mars — the former of which is constrained to appear near the horizon just before dawn or after dusk. Sometimes the low apparent motion of a distant airplane near the horizon makes it hard to tell from a bright planet, but even this can usually be discerned by the plane’s motion over a few minutes. Still unsure? The featured chart gives a sometimes-humorous but mostly-accurate assessment. Dedicated sky enthusiasts will likely note — and are encouraged to provide — polite corrections.

Chart translations: Spanish, Italian, Polish, Kannada, Latvian, Norwegian, and Turkish

Tomorrow’s picture: volcanic light pillar

如何识别天空中的发光物
艺术图来源及版权: HK (The League of Lost Causes)

说明：天空中那发光的东西是什么？这也许是人类最常见的问题之一，答案也许能通过一些快速观察来获得。例如，它是在移动还是在闪烁？如果答案是肯定的（YES），如果你住在城市附近，那你看到的通常是一架飞机，因为飞机太多了，而在城市的灯光中可以看到的足够亮的星星和卫星太少了。如果答案是否定的（NO），且如果你住在远离城市的地方，那么这些明亮的发光体很可能是像金星或火星这样的行星——前者只能在黎明前或黄昏后出现在地平线附近。有时，一架遥远的飞机在地平线附近的低速视运动使它很难与一颗明亮的行星区别开来，但即使这样，通常也可以在几分钟内看它是否运动来辨别。还是不会判断？这张专题图表提供了一个有时幽默、但大部分准确的评估。热心的天空爱好者如果注意到图表有错误，欢迎提供指正。

图表翻译: 西班牙语、意大利语、波兰语、卡纳达语、拉脱维亚语、挪威语、和土耳其语。

明日的图片: volcanic light pillar