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五月天空將現“六星連珠”奇觀
Six planets align in May but no doomsday is foreseen

[ 2011-05-13 08:27]

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A planetary alignment is a rare spectacular event that has always been a topic of great interest and speculations. Some predict the end of the world, others see the start of a new golden era. This May the world will witness the alignment of six planets, with May 11 being the best out of all.

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A planetary alignment is a rare spectacular event that has always been a topic of great interest and speculations. Some predict the end of the world, others see the start of a new golden era. This May the world will witness the alignment of six planets, with May 11 being the best out of all.

Every morning in May the naked eye will be able to spot Mars, Jupiter, Venus and Mercury, and with a small telescope one can see Uranus and Neptune. 30 minutes before sunrise, the morning sky will show all the planets aligned across the sun’s path, except Saturn.

The planets line up was expected on December 21, 2012, that’s when fortune tellers predicted the end of the world and scientists awaited a spectacular show in the sky. However modern equipments and tools have showed that in 2012 no alignment will occur.

Instead, a visible alignment will be seen throughout the entire month of May. For the past two months Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, Uranus and Neptune were not visible because of their location behind the sun, but starting May all planets started to line up above the rising sun.

The best morning for the largest and tightest conjunction of planets this century is May 11th. That's when the two brightest planets in our own solar system, Venus and Jupiter, will almost unite. Uranus and Neptune will be shining green but will need a good binocular to be seen.

"The very closest grouping will come Tuesday, May 10, when Venus, Jupiter and Mercury will be in a very close-knit triangle, with Mars to the left and below the triangle. Then on Wednesday May, 11, Jupiter, Venus and Mercury will be in a very straight line", said David L. DeBruyn.

On May 13th, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter will form a "bright celestial triangle", and on May 20th, a new triangle will form. The show will end on May 30th, when the moon will join the four planets, and five "heavenly lights" will be seen at once in the morning sky.

Planetary conjunctions are rare events, therefore people who have the chance to enjoy the changing alignment of the planets every day in May, should not waste the chance. No worries, it doesn't mean that the world is ending. Interesting is how the doomsayers' predictions never seem to come true.

(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)

行星連成一線這種罕見奇觀一直是人們關注和爭相猜測的焦點。有人認為這預示著世界末日，有人則認為這預示著一個新的黃金時代的到來。今年五月世界將目睹“六星連珠”的奇觀，5月11日是觀看這一景觀的最佳日期。

在五月期間，人們每天早晨都可以用肉眼看見火星、木星、金星和水星，用小型望遠鏡還可以看見天王星和海王星。在日出30分鐘前，在清晨的天空可以看見各大行星排列在太陽路徑上（土星除外）。

曾有人預測行星連珠會在2012年12月21日出現，科學家們期待的這一天空奇景發生時也就是算命師所預言的世界末日到來之時。然而，現代儀器的觀測表明，在2012年不會發生行星連珠景觀。

但是，在今年整個五月期間都可以看見明顯的行星連珠景觀。在過去兩個月，人們都無法看見火星、木星、金星、水星、天王星和海王星，因為它們的位置正處于太陽背面。但從五月開始各大行星將太陽升起位置的上方連成一線。

本世紀行星之間最大最緊密的會合景觀的最佳觀測時機是在5月11日早晨。到那時我們太陽系最亮的兩顆行星——金星和木星將密切會合，天王星和海王星將發出綠光，不過需要一架好的雙筒望遠鏡才能看到。

戴維?L?狄布恩說：“行星最緊密的會合將在5月10日（周二）發生，金星、木星和水星將形成一個緊密會合的三角，火星在左邊，位于三角下方。5月11日（周三）那天，木星、金星和水星將形成一條筆直的線。”

5月13日，水星、金星和木星將形成一個“閃亮天體三角”，之后在5月20日，還會形成一個新的三角。這一系列天體景觀將在5月30日結束，月亮將加入這四個行星，五大“天光”將一同在早晨的天空出現。

行星連珠是罕見的景觀，因此有機會欣賞五月每日行星排列變化的人千萬不要錯過這一良機。不用擔心，行星連珠并不意味著世界末日。有趣的是，末日預言家們的預言似乎從來沒有實現過。

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（中國日報網英語點津陳丹妮編輯：馮明惠）

Vocabulary:

alignment: arrangement in a straight line（排成直線）

conjunction: the fact of stars, planets, etc. passing close together as seen from the earth 合相，（天體的）會合（兩星或星與基本點間成零度的視角）

binocular: 雙筒望遠鏡

celestial: of the sky or of heaven（天空的；天上的）

doomsayer: a person who says that something very bad is going to happen（兇事預示者；預言災難者）

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