[科技前沿]中國準備迎接本世紀最長的日食

中國準備迎接本世紀最長的日食

成千上萬的中國，印度和日本民衆將於週三親眼見證本世紀最長的一次日食現象。旅遊者和科學家們紛紛趕往最佳觀測點準備迎接這次大戲然的奇觀。

China gears up for longest solar eclipse of the century

Hundreds of millions of people across China, India and Japan will witness the longest solar eclipse（日食） of the century on Wednesday.

Tourists and scientists are flocking to （涌向）the best viewing spots from across the globe for up to six minutes and 39 seconds of darkness. Scientists also hope to use the eclipse to gather crucial data.

But the phenomenon is also bringing uncertainty and fear in parts of Asia, where some believe it will bring bad luck. China's cabinet, the state council, has ordered officials to dispel superstition（迷信） by explaining the science behind the phenomenon.

Others have a more prosaic concern: bad weather threatens to mar the view for many in India and China.

The total eclipse will appear at dawn in India's Gulf of Khambhat – north of Mumbai – moving east across India, Nepal（尼泊爾）, Burma（緬甸）, Bangladesh（孟加拉國） and Bhutan（不丹）.

Its path across China will take in cities including Shanghai and pass across southern Japanese islands, with a last brief view from Nikumaroro Island in the South Pacific nation of Kiribati（基里巴斯）.

Many more people across the region will witness a partial eclipse（日偏食）.

"We'll have to wait a few hundred years for another opportunity to observe a solar eclipse that lasts this long, so it's a very special opportunity," Shao Zhenyi, an astronomer at the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, told the Associated Press.

Scientists hope it will provide data to explain solar flares and other structures of the sun and why they erupt（噴發）, said Alphonse C Sterling, a Nasa astrophysicist （天體物理學家）who will be watching from China.

Suzhou, a popular city in Jiangsu province, China, is preparing to receive 10,000 overseas tourists and 100,000 domestic visitors, local media reported.

In India hundreds of scientists are gathering at Taregana, a village in Bihar（比哈爾）, because they believe it is the ideal spot for observation.

And hotels on the small southern Japanese island of Yakushima are booked out as people arrive for a two-day festival to celebrate the country's first total eclipse since 1963.

But in many countries eclipses have traditionally been seen as bad omens.

An an astrologer（占星家） in Burma has predicted the event will trigger wars, instability （不穩定）and natural disasters, while in India some families are advising pregnant women to stay indoors in curtained rooms lest the sun's invisible rays harm the foetus（胎兒）. and, more prosaically（平凡地）, told police to prepare for potential problems such as road accidents.

China National Radio said it had received calls from people in Wenchuan county, Sichuan, the epicentre （震源）of last year's devastating earthquake, asking if the solar eclipse would cause another tremor（微震）.

In China, the state council warned that reduced visibility and falling temperatures might create panic. It urged scientists to use the media to explain the science behind the phenomenon Internet users posted comments warning it was a "very bad omen" and that criminals might take advantage of the darkness, but others urged them to be more rational.

Keke View：日食是月球運動到太陽和地球中間，如果三者正好處在一條直線時，月球就會擋住太陽射向地球的光，月球身後的黑影正好落到地球上，這時發生日食現象。在地球上月影裏的人們開始看到陽光逐漸減弱，太陽面被圓的黑影遮住，天色轉暗，全部遮住時，天空中可以看到最亮的恆星和行星，幾分鐘後，從月球黑影邊緣逐漸露出陽光，開始生光、復圓。由於月球比地球小，只有在月影中的人們才能看到日食。