【外刊英语精读】光污染与消失的星空 | light pollution and invisible stars

Stars  could be invisible within 20 years as light pollution brightens night skies光污染照亮夜空，星星可能在20年内“消失不见”The  increased use of light-emitting diodes is obscuring our view of the Milky Way as well as taking a toll on human and wildlife health随着发光二极管的广泛使用，银河正愈加模糊，人类和野生动物的健康也受到危害The  Herefordshire hills basked in brilliant sunshine last weekend. Summer had arrived and the skies were cloudless, conditions that would once have heralded succeeding nights of coal-dark heavens sprinkled with brilliant stars, meteorites and planets.上周末，赫里福德郡的山丘沐浴在阳光明媚中。夏日已经来临，天空万里无云，这种天气下，按理说接下来的夜晚会是一片漆黑，点缀着明亮的星星、流星和行星。It  was not to be. The night sky was not so much black as dark grey with only a handful of stars glimmering against this backdrop. The Milky Way – which would once have glittered across the heavens – was absent. Summer’s advent had again revealed a curse of modern times: light pollution.然而现实并非如此。夜空并不是黑暗的，而是暗灰色的，只有少数几颗星星在闪烁。曾经闪烁在天空中的银河系如今已经消失。夏天的到来再次揭示了现代社会的诅咒：光污染。The  increased use of light-emitting diodes (LED) and other forms of lighting are now brightening the night sky at a dramatic rate, scientists have found. Indiscriminate use of external lighting, street illumination, advertising, and illuminated sporting venues is now blinding our view of the stars.科学家们发现，发光二极管（LED）和其他形式的照明现在正以惊人速度使夜空变亮。由于无节制地使用室外照明、街道照明、广告和照明体育场馆，我们对星星的视线已经被遮挡。In  2016, astronomers reported that the Milky Way was no longer visible to a third of humanity and light pollution has worsened considerably since then. At its current rate most of the major constellations will be indecipherable in 20 years, it is estimated. The loss, culturally and scientifically, will be intense.2016年，天文学家报告称，有三分之一的人类再也看不到银河系，而且光污染每况愈下。据估计，按照目前的速度，大多数主要星座将在20年内无法辨识，无论是从文化上还是科学上来说，这种损失都是巨大的。Research  by physicist Christopher Kyba, of the German Centre for Geosciences has revealed that light pollution is now causing the night sky to brighten at a rate of around 10% a year, an increase that threatens to obliterate the sight of all but the most brilliant stars in a generation. A child born where 250 stars are visible at night today would only be able to see about 100 by the time they reach 18.德国地球科学中心的物理学家克里斯托弗·凯巴的研究发现，光污染正导致夜空以每年约10%的速度变亮，这将会使那些几乎最亮的星星在一个代际以内消失殆尽。如果现在的一个新生儿在晚上能看到250个星星，那他们在18岁的时候大约只能看到100颗星星。Gazing  at a night sky crossed by a glittering Milky Way has become a splendour of another age, Kyba told the Observer. “A couple of generations ago, people would have been confronted regularly with this glittering vision of the cosmos – but what was formerly universal is now extremely rare. Only the world’s richest people, and some of the poorest, experience that any more. For everybody else, it’s more or less gone.”凝视星河点缀的夜空已成为“远古”的壮丽景观，凯巴告诉观察者报。“几代人以前，人们经常能看到这种闪烁的宇宙景象，但这种日常现已变得稀缺。只有那些世上最有钱的人以及一些最贫穷的人还能体验一下，但对于其他人来说，这已经无法奢望了。Nevertheless , the introduction of only a modest number of changes to lighting could make a considerable improvement, Kyba argued. These moves would include ensuring outdoor lights are carefully shielded, point downwards, have limits placed on their brightness, and are not predominantly blue-white but have red and orange components.然而，凯巴认为只需对照明进行适当的改变就可以带来显著的改善。这些措施包括确保室外照明被仔细遮挡、向下调整照明方向、限制照明亮度以及使用红橙元件来代替蓝白元件等。“ Measures like that would have an enormous impact,” he added.他补充说：“此类措施将产生巨大影响。”前往小宇宙评论区与主播互动