北京——天文学家驳斥了谣言——日本毁灭性的地震及随后的海啸与周六将出再的超级月亮密切相关，或始作俑者。
The word "supermoon" was introduced in a report by the British newspaper Daily Mail on March 9, which said amateur scientists were warning that such an astronomical phenomenon could disrupt the Earth's climate patterns and may even cause earthquakes and volcanic activity.
名词“超级月亮”在3月9日英国报纸《每日邮报》的一份报告中由业余爱好者提出，科学家被警告这样一个天文现象可能干扰地球的气候方式，甚至可能导致地震和火山问题。
The moon will be 356,577 kilometers from the Earth on Saturday, the closest in 19 years, and the closest point in its oval orbit coincides with a full moon, the report said.
报告中说，周六时，月球将距地球35.6577万公里，19年来最近。满月将出现在椭圆轨道上的最近点。
However, Saturday's moon is not actually the closest to Earth in 19 years, Tang Haiming, an astronomer with Shanghai Astronomical Observatory under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told Xinhua News Agency. A shorter distance of 356,570 km between the two bodies was reached in January 2005, and a distance of 356,566 km was seen in December 2008.
中科院上海天文台天文学家唐对新华日报说：然而，周六的月亮实际上并不是19年来距地球的最近点。2005年1月时两个星球之间的距离为35.6570公里，2008年12月距离为35.6566公里。
Yet some people suggest that previous supermoons have occurred prior to extreme weather events.
然而一些人认为，上一次超级月亮出现前也出了极端的天气情况。
In 1974 the phenomenon was followed by Cyclone Tracy in Darwin, Australia, and in 2005 it occurred shortly before a deadly tsunami in Indonesia.
在1974年，这现象在台湾和澳大利亚的飓风后出现， 2005年现在在印尼毁灭性海啸很短时间之前。
Coincidentally, two fresh disasters happened in Asia right before Saturday's supermoon
巧合的是，两次新的灾难在周六超级月亮前出现在亚洲。
The public's concern about their connection with the moon boomed after Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami and a tremor in Southwest China's Yunnan province that killed 25 people on March 10.
公众担心他们之间的联系，在日本毁灭性地震及海啸，及中国云南3/10生的致使25人丧命的地震之后，超级月亮出现。
But astronomers are trying to reassure people that such rumors are merely groundless.
但是天文学家尽量安抚民众，这些的谣言是没有根据的。
"A supermoon could cause high tides but has no direct relation with natural disasters such as earthquakes," Liu Jie, a researcher with the China Earthquake Network Center, told China Daily on Tuesday.
刘，中国地震网络中心的研究员周二时告诉中国日报，超级月亮可能会引起高的潮汐，但和类似地震的自然灾害没有直接的联系。
"We can't find any necessary connection between previous supermoons and earthquakes. And the quake in Japan occurred because the Earth's internal energy had accumulated to some extent, and it's not related to the moon," he said.
我们没能发现任何的联系在之前的超级月亮和地震之间。日本地震的出现是因为地球内部的能量累积到了极限，和月亮无关。
James Garvin, chief scientist at the Goddard Space Flight Center under NASA, said in an article on NASA's website that "the effects on Earth from a supermoon are minor."
美国宇航局戈德太空飞行中心的知名科学家G在美国宇航局的网站上说，超级月亮对地球的影响是很次要的。
"The combination of the moon being at its closest to Earth in its orbit, and being in its 'full moon' configuration (relative to the Earth and sun), should not affect the internal energy balance of the Earth, since there are lunar tides every day.
月球处于地球轨道最近点的组合及满月的形态（相对于地球和太阳）不会影响地球内部能量的平衡，即使每天都有潮汐。
"The Earth has stored a tremendous amount of internal energy within its thin outer shell or crust, and the small differences in the tidal forces exerted by the moon (and sun) are not enough to fundamentally overcome the much larger forces within the planet due to convection," he said.
地球储藏了巨大的数量的内部能量在其薄薄的外层或外壳内，这和由月亮（和太阳）引起的潮汐力有些许不同，不足以因对流的原因，从根本上超过地球内部如此巨大的能量。
Zhu Jin, curator of the Beijing Planetarium, said there is no scientific term for "supermoon", but the moon moves around the earth in an elliptical path, so each orbit has a perigee - its closest approach, and an apogee - its furthest distance.
北京天文馆馆长朱说，对超级月亮是没有科学根据的，但是月亮围绕地球的运动在一个椭圆的轨道，每个轨道都有一个近地点——最近的靠近，一个远地点，最远的距离。
A lunar perigee occurs once a month and there are very small differences in distances between perigees, he said.
Those tiny differences are far from enough to cause earthquakes or eruption of a volcano, he added.
每个月近地点都会出现一次，每次间在距离上会有很小的不同。他说。那些微小的不足以导致地震及火山喷发。
On average, at perigee the moon is as close as 363,300 km and at apogee it gets 405,500 km away, astronomers say.
天文学家说，平均来说，近地点距离36.33万公里，远日点为40.55万公里。
Wang Qian contributed to this story.
评论