Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Ring around the moon 月亮的圆环

The ring is much clearer and bigger in actual scene. The red dot is a bright star.
环的实景很清晰,也比较宽大。红点是一颗明亮的星 (@11:00 pm)


Today is the 13th day of third Lunar month, but the moon is bright and full.

I noticed there is a big white ring around the moon. It is an astronomical phenomena quite common but not its name. So I googled "ring around the moon", it explained as follows:

The ring around the Moon is an atmospheric effect caused by the refraction of Moonlight (which of course is reflected sunlight) from ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. The shape of the ice crystals results in a focusing of the light into a ring. Since the ice crystals typically have the same shape, namely a hexagonal shape, the Moon ring is almost always the same size.

Never mind the name. I called my neighbour to watch also. We have good ten minutes of "wah", "oh" "lah" fun.


今天是农历三月十三,但月亮已经是圆又亮。

我发觉月亮有一个大环包围着。这是一个相当常见的天文景观,但却不知其名。所以我用谷歌搜索得到这样的答案:

月亮的环,是一个大气层的效应。环是因着月亮的光穿过大气层上空的冰晶侧射而产生的(当然也是太阳光反射)。冰晶的形状,把光集焦而成为一个光圈。因为所有的冰晶都是同一形状 -- 六角形, 所以月亮的光圈几乎每次都是同一大小的。(本人粗糙翻译,有出错,请谅及指正)

不要太理会它叫什么名称吧。我也通知邻居出来观看,至少我们有十分钟的“呼” “哗” “哦” 的观赏兴致。

7 comments:

queen_of_bee said...

so late still star/moon-gazing? hehehe. cannot sleep?

Simon Kajang said...

Aiyaa.. a lot of "heart matter" (sum xi 心事) le 。

I bet you do not know it is full moon liao!!

It is good to look at the moon and do some "moon-dreaming". It is good for the soul.

Ngu said...

我有一个怪(或是错的)的成见,总觉得赏月(除了中秋节外)是诗人的玩意儿,尤其是李白,他是我最欣赏的诗人之一。

看样子你是个晚睡的人,在这月圆之夜,送上三首李白有关月亮的诗让你慢慢一边欣赏明月(诗巫的月好圆好亮,不知你那儿的情况怎样,看了你的贴子,我才看看今晚的月亮)。

《静夜思》

床前明月光,疑是地上霜;
举头望明月,低头思故乡。

《月下独酌》
花间一壶酒,独酌无相亲。
举杯邀明月,对影成三人。
月既不解饮,影徒随我身。
暂伴月将影,行乐须及春。
我歌月徘徊,我舞影凌乱。
醒时同交欢,醉后各分散。
永结无情游,相期邈云汉。
(其一)


《把酒问月》


青天有月来几时? 我今停杯一问之。
人攀明月不可得, 月行却与人相随。
皎如飞镜临丹阙。 绿烟灭尽清辉发。
但见宵从海上来, 宁知晓向云间没?
白兔捣药秋复春, 嫦娥孤栖与谁邻?
今人不见古时月, 今月曾经照古人。
古人今人若流水, 共看明月皆如此。
唯愿当歌对酒时, 月光长照金樽里。

Simon Kajang said...

“今人不见古时月, 今月曾经照古人。
古人今人若流水, 共看明月皆如此。”

今晚我再去看月,虽没有了光圈,但仍然是皎如明镜,看久了,发现天空满布星星,闪烁亮晶晶。

不只有点幽古思今,也想到这轮明月,必照到四海之内的朋友。。。想到大家相见时,举杯共舒情怀:

“醒时同交欢,醉后各分散。
永结无情游,相期邈云汉。”

你有去台湾交流会吗?

queen_of_bee said...

i know i know! today is "sam yuet, sap em" (15th of 3rd month).

usually i see moon in the morning. when i go to work, the sky still dark, moon still shining brightly!

ask "heart matter" to sleep at night. only start thinking when it's morning :P

Unknown said...

Now I know why he cannot sleep. It's full moon! You know what that means?

queen_of_bee said...

ah ooooooooooooooooooo.....