红月亮血色之夜 公元前331年的战争

伤我心太深

公元前331年9月20日，在亚历山大三世（亚历山大大帝）和波斯王大流士三世之间的那场高加米拉战役之前，一场月食发生了。尽管亚历山大的军队数量上被远超，但对当时的占星家们来说，月食预言着大流士的失败。

Despite Alexander's army being considerably outnumbered, to astrologers of the time, the eclipse foretold Darius's defeat. As night fell on the battlefield, the eclipsed moon glowed a deep blood red, signaling blood would be spilled on that night, but not in Alexander's army.

尽管亚历山大的军队数量上被对方远超，但对当时的占星家们来说，月食预言着大流士的失败。当夜幕降临时，在战场上，正发生月食的月亮闪烁出一种深血红色的光芒，预示着那夜将有流血，但是却不在亚历山大的军队。

As history shows, Alexander won the battle and it is thought the favorable forecast from astrologers gave his army the lift they needed (also, astrologers on the Persian side are rumored to have been bribed to foretell doom among Darius's men, impacting morale).

历史表明，亚历山大赢得了这场战役，而且，这个预言被认为对士兵起了鼓舞斗志的作用。（同样的，在波斯人那边，占星家们被谣传是受了亚历山大的贿赂，在大流士的士兵里预言失败以泄士气）。

Throughout history there are countless examples of when eclipses have foretold doom. Significant events are chronicled to have taken place, shaping our past based on documented lunar eclipses. Nowadays, we know that these events simply coincided with the alignment of three celestial bodies, resulting in a stunning astronomical sight.

纵观历史，月食预示灾难的事例不胜枚举。已经发生的重要事件都被记录在册，塑造了我们历史的都基于文献中记载的月食。现在，我们懂得了，这种现象的发生仅仅是由于三个天体呈一条直线，结果是导致了一个天文奇观。

Lunar eclipses occur when the sun, Earth and moon sit in alignment and the Earth blocks sunlight from reaching the moon. Usually, of course, we can only see the moon because it reflects sunlight. But during an eclipse, the source of light is blocked and the moon's disk goes unusually dark.

当太阳、地球和月球成一直线且地球遮挡了太阳照到月球上的太阳光。通常我们只能看到月球是因为月球反射太阳光。但在整个月食过程中，光源被挡住，月亮的盘面通常是暗的。

However, the moon doesn't completely disappear since the gasses in our atmosphere act to bend some of the blocked sunlight, directing the red part of the solar spectrum back to the moon. Sometimes this has the effect of turning the moon a deep red, often blood red. The mechanism behind this phenomenon is called "Rayleigh scattering."

然而，月亮不会完全消失，因为我们大气层里的空气可以折射一部分被挡住的光线，把太阳光光谱中的红色光折射到月球上。有时候，它能够把月亮变成深红色，通常是血红色。这种现象的原理叫做“瑞利散射”。

Sometimes the moon doesn’t completely fall into the shadow of the Earth, however. When this happens we see a partial lunar eclipse where only some of the moon goes dark -- only when it sinks completely into our shadow we see a total lunar eclipse.

有时候，月亮并没有完全进入地球的影子，这时候，只有一部分月亮变暗，我们将看到偏食。只有当它完全沉入到地球影子里时，我们才能看到全食。

An event like this occurs on Wednesday June 15 starting at 17:23 UT (6:23 p.m. GMT) and finishes at 23:02 UT (12:02 a.m. GMT, June 16). Note: The eclipse will not be visible from the USA, as it will be daytime when the eclipse occurs.

这回，发生在6月15日星期三的这个天文现象始于美国时间17：23分（世界时，上午6：23分），结束于美国时间23：02分（世界时6月16日上午12：02分）。注：月食在美国不明显是因为它发生时美国是白天时间。

During this period, the shadow of the Earth will slowly drift across the moon. The moment when the moon begins to be completely shadowed by the Earth will be at 19:22 UT (8:22 p.m. GMT) -- this is known as the start of totality. It will end at 21:02 UT (10:02 p.m. GMT) when the shadow will once again be seen to slip slowly across the surface of the moon.

在这个过程中，地球的影子会缓慢飘过月亮。到19：22分（世界时
上午8：22分）,月球完全进入地球的影子，这就是著名的全食。它会在21：02分（世界时
上午10：02分）结束。这时我们能看到影子又会缓慢的从月球表面移开。

Just how red it will appear during totality will depend on the conditions in our atmosphere. If there is a lot of dust from a volcanic eruption, for example, the lunar surface may turn a dark brown, but if the atmosphere is clear, it may turn a striking blood red. It's never easy to predict quite how it will look, so keep your eyes peeled.

这就是为什么在全食的过程中月亮会显得那么红，它需要依赖于我们的大气条件。举个例子，如果空气中有一些火山爆发时产生的灰尘，月亮表面会变成暗棕色，但如果大气是干净的，它将变成明亮的血红色。究竟看起来会怎样，是很难预测的，所以你要擦亮你的眼睛哦！

Unlike solar eclipses where the moon blocks the sun from our view in only a few locations on the planet, for lunar eclipses, as long as you can see the moon then you will see the eclipse.

与日食不同，当月亮遮挡太阳光时，在我们的视野里只有有限的位置可以供观看月食，就月食来说，只要你能看到月亮，就能看到它。

For your location, check the time of moon rise and if it happens before or during the eclipse then hopefully you should see something quite spectacular.

就你的观测位置来说，只要你确定好月亮升起的时间，在这之前和这之间你都有希望看到一些壮观的景象。