Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival — a day traditionally celebrated by family reunion, enjoying the full moon and eating moon cakes. However, the Taipei Astronomical Museum (TAM) has pointed out that the moon on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival this year is not really a full moon; the actual full moon will in fact occur two days later on Friday Oct. 6 (Aug. 17 in the lunar calendar) at 2:40am in the morning. As such, the moon that we will see this mid-autumn evening is not a true full moon: Around 2 percent of the moon will be hidden in the dark and not visible.
The TAM also invites the public to take part in a Mid-Autumn Festival special event that will take place between 7pm and 9pm and will include five activity areas and 22 astronomical telescopes for the public to photograph and enjoy the moon.
There is also an exhibition called “Take me to the moon” on display in the museum’s first floor lobby which will stay open through to Dec. 24. The exhibition includes a brief introduction to the moon, a history of human exploration of the moon, as well as educational games such as the popular “lunar sea fantasy” game and full-moon puzzles for children and adults to explore and enjoy.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Astronomical Museum
圖片:台北市立天文科學教育館提供
(CNA, translated by Lin Lee-kai)
今天是中秋節,也是全家團圓在一起賞月、吃月餅的日子。但台北市立天文科學教育館指出,今年中秋節不是滿月的日子,真正的月圓時間是在六日(農曆八月十七日),即本週五的凌晨二時四十分,在日期上晚了兩天。因此我們今年中秋夜見到的月亮並不圓,整個月面還有約百分之二仍隱在黑暗中不可見。
天文館也表示,今天晚間七時至九時將舉辦中秋特別活動,共有五大活動區、二十二部天文望遠鏡邀民眾一同拍月、賞月。
天文館即日起至十二月二十四日,也在一樓大廳舉辦「帶我去月球展」,包括月球簡介、人類探索月球計劃,以及小朋友喜愛的月海想像與滿月拼圖小遊戲等,歡迎大小朋友參觀。
(中央社)
DID YOU KNOW?
你知道嗎?
As the matter of fact, the chances of having full moon on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival are not very high. In the 45-year period starting from 1986 and ending in 2030, there will be only 15 instances of a full moon on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival — the odds are only one-in-three. The last time there was a full moon on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival was Sept. 19, 2013 and the next time will be on Sept. 21, 2021.
中秋節當天是滿月的機率其實並沒有非常高。從一九八六年到二○三○年的四十五年期間,將有十五次中秋適逢滿月,其占比不過是三分之一左右而已。上一次的中秋滿月是二○一三年九月十九日,而下一次的中秋滿月將是二○二一年九月二十一日。
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