如何辨识天空的发光体

2024年6月9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? The answer to one of humanity’s more common questions may emerge 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 glare 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: Italian, German, Latvian, Persian, Polish, Spanish, and Turkish

Tomorrow’s picture: big lion

如何辨识天空的发光体
图示提供与版权: HK (The League of Lost Causes)

说明: 天空的那抹亮光是什么？这或许是人们常有的疑问之一；而在经过一些快速的观察之后，或许就能得到答案。例如：它在动且在闪烁？如果答案为”是”，而你又住在城市附近，这样的景观通常是源自飞机，因为飞机数量众多，而比都市灯火还要亮的恒星和人造卫星数量寥寥。如果答案为”否”，而且你住在远离都市的地方，那这种亮光可能来自金星和火星这类的行星，而前者通常出现在日出前或日落后的地平线附近。然而，有时候在远方地平线上空的飞机会缓慢移动，让它很难和明亮的行星加以区隔，不过经过数分钟之后，飞机的运动还是能让它和行星甄别出来。还无法确定吗？上面这张主题图表，揭示了一些偶而带着幽默但基本上正确的判断过程。星空热爱者应能找到一些该修订之处，欢迎提出订正，但语气请宛转一些。

图表翻译: 意大利语、德语、拉脱维亚语、波斯语、波兰语、西班牙语、和土耳其语

明日的图片: big lion