题图：Photo: 123rf
It’ll be all eyes skyward next week with a rare meteor shower expected across our night skies. Meteor showers are not uncommon, but Tuesday night’s event promises to be unique.
【澳纽网编译】下周，所有的目光都将集中在天空中，预计我们的夜空中将有一场罕见的流星雨。流星雨并不少见，但周二晚上的活动有望是独一无二的。
New Zealand was the best place in the world to see this celestial show, Otago University geologist, Professor James Scott told Afternoons.
新西兰是世界上观看这场天体表演的最佳地点，奥塔哥大学地质学家詹姆斯·斯科特教授告诉《下午》节目。
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“On December 12, between 8pm and 12:30pm in the morning New Zealand is in the prime place to see the first meteor shower associated with comet 46P.
“12月12日晚上8点至12点30分之间，新西兰正处于观看与彗星46P相关的第一场流星雨的黄金地段。
“This particular comet passed pretty close to Jupiter in 1972, so some time ago, and that knocked a load of debris off it. And this is the first time this debris intercepts Earth’s orbit, and it’s going to be this December, and it’s going to be visible for that four to five hour period.”
“这颗特殊的彗星在1972年非常接近木星，所以在一段时间前，它从木星上撞下了一堆碎片。这是这些碎片第一次拦截地球轨道，这将是今年12月，它将在四到五个小时内可见。
It’s a special event, he says.
他说，这是一个特别的事件。
“Every year Earth’s orbit intercepts meteor showers. So certainly, we get plenty of meteor showers that are visible and anyone who’s looked up in the night sky and seen a few shooting stars is probably seeing the remnants of a comet or an asteroid that the Earth’s orbit is intersecting.
“每年地球的轨道都会拦截流星雨。所以可以肯定的是，我们可以看到很多流星雨，任何在夜空中仰望并看到几颗流星的人都可能看到地球轨道相交的彗星或小行星的残骸。
“But finding new ones is pretty uncommon. Many of them have been documented for 1000s of years, certainly Halley’s comet, which is the first comet to be detected was recorded in Babylonian records.”
“但是找到新的是相当罕见的。其中许多已经记录了1000多年，当然哈雷彗星是巴比伦记录中记录到的第一颗被探测到的彗星。
This is the first shower associated with near Earth object, Wirtanen, he says and luckily it’s going to occur during the evening in New Zealand.
他说，这是第一次与近地天体Wirtanen有关的流星雨，幸运的是，它将在新西兰的晚上发生。
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Coinciding with Wirtanen’s meteor shower is another called the gemenids, he says.
他说，与Wirtanen的流星雨相吻合的是另一个被称为双子座流星雨的流星雨。
“The geminids are active at the same time, but the trajectories of the meteor showers come from different orientations.
“双子座流星雨同时活跃，但流星雨的轨迹来自不同的方向。
“And so, the geminids are going to be going in one direction. And at the same time, the debris from the comet Wirtanen is going to be going in another direction. “
“因此，双子座流星雨将朝着一个方向前进。与此同时，来自Wirtanen彗星的碎片将朝着另一个方向前进。”
As long as there’s clear skies above us, there’s a good chance of seeing shooting starts, he says.
他说，只要我们头顶有晴朗的天空，就很有可能看到流星开始。
“Even if it’s not those associated with Wirtanen, it’ll be the geminids, which are pretty spectacular, they can be hundreds per night.”
“即使不是那些与Wirtanen有关的，它也会是双子座流星雨，它们非常壮观，每晚可以达到数百个。
And they’re distinct from satellites, he says.
他说，它们与卫星不同。
“You should see something flash across the sky, these things are traveling at kilometres per second, when they’re high in the atmosphere, they’re often between about 10kms per second and about 80kms per second, which are the fast end – so they’re quite distinct from satellites.”
“你应该看到一些东西在天空中闪过，这些东西以每秒几公里的速度行进，当它们在大气层中高空时，它们通常在每秒约10公里到每秒约80公里之间，这是最快的一端 – 所以它们与卫星截然不同。
Shooting stars are, often, tiny pieces of debris entering the atmosphere, he says.
他说，流星通常是进入大气层的微小碎片。
“Shooting stars for the most part are really small bits of debris, perhaps pea-sized even. And as they enter the Earth’s atmosphere, they compress the air in front of them, which is a gas and it gas heats up and that melts the rock that’s coming in, and that vaporizes components, and that gives rise to the flaming tail.
“流星大部分都是很小的碎片，甚至可能只有豌豆大小。当它们进入地球大气层时，它们会压缩它们前面的空气，这是一种气体，它会加热，融化进入的岩石，蒸发成分，从而产生燃烧的尾巴。
“But of course, because they’re only small bits of rock, they often completely melt up.”
“但当然，因为它们只是一小块岩石，所以它们经常完全融化。
Fireballs, he says, a larger and come in lower.
他说，火球更大，更低。
“About 20 kilometres above Earth, which seems quite high, but it’s actually really, really quite shallow. And this is big debris, it can be kilograms of material.”
“离地球大约20公里，看起来很高，但实际上非常非常浅。这是大碎片，可能是几公斤的材料。
They are slow enough that the air around them isn’t hot enough to melt and then they fall through a process called dark flight, he says
他说，它们足够慢，以至于它们周围的空气不够热，无法融化，然后它们会通过一个称为黑暗飞行的过程坠落
“They’re still there, but they’re just now falling towards the surface of the earth after that fireball stage.”
“它们还在那里，但在那个火球阶段之后，它们现在才落向地球表面。
There are about 100 cameras throughout the country pointed at the sky as part of Fireballs Aotearoa, a citizen-initiated New Zealand meteor camera network.
全国大约有100台摄像机指向天空，这是新西兰公民发起的流星相机网络Fireballs Aotearoa的一部分。
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“Each night they record the meteors that cross the sky and often there’s tens to hundreds of them in an evening.
“每天晚上，他们都会记录划过天空的流星，通常一个晚上有数十到数百颗流星。
“And they can precisely triangulate the different meteors and so we’ll be able to record the duration, the length when they occurred, the volumes of them and it’s down to this citizens science network.”
“他们可以精确地对不同的流星进行三角测量，因此我们将能够记录持续时间，它们发生的长度，它们的数量，这取决于这个公民科学网络。
“Predicting meteor showers is not an exact science,” Scott noted. “The thing is as long as it’s clear skies above us and you lie on your back and look at the sky, I’m sure you’ll see shooting stars.”
“预测流星雨并不是一门精确的科学，”斯科特指出。“问题是，只要我们头顶是晴朗的天空，你仰面躺着看天空，我相信你会看到流星。
Fireballs Aotearoa hopes to track meteorites when they land here, Scott said.
斯科特说，Fireballs Aotearoa希望在陨石降落在这里时追踪它们。
Scientists also hope to learn from meteor showers like this.
科学家们也希望从这样的流星雨中吸取教训。
Comet Wirtanen will not get close to Earth but other meteorites have in the past, such as the one believed to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Wirtanen彗星不会靠近地球，但其他陨石过去曾接近过，例如据信导致恐龙灭绝的陨石。
“Documenting the showers and trajectories of these rocks is an important scientific endeavour, really, because it feeds into more information about what might happen or whether a particular comet is of concern.”
“记录这些岩石的阵雨和轨迹是一项重要的科学工作，因为它提供了更多关于可能发生的事情或特定彗星是否值得关注的信息。
To view Tuesday’s show it is best to get away from bright city lights if possible.
要观看周二的奇观，最好尽可能远离明亮的城市灯光。
“The darker the sky, the better the view.”
“天空越暗，视野越好。”
来源： RNZ
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