Zhejiang daily news
Three years later, china is finally celebrating a full-month feast with excellent conditions. At the same time, there is also a widespread saying that the “blood moon” is prone to disasters, harmful to people, can affect human health and emotions and can cause headaches, insomnia and illness. In addition, the myths such as “no blood month washes its hair”, “no pregnant woman leaves the house”, cast an artificial shadow over this beautiful sky。
In fact, the blood moon is not only not scary, but also romantic. Because of the refraction and dispersion of the sun in the earth's atmosphere, the wavelengths of each colour vary, with short-wave long blue light easily dispersed by atmospheric molecules, long-wave long red light piercing the atmosphere, and because the earth's gravity is bent into the shadow between the earth and the moon, the red light that runs through the earth's atmosphere is on the surface of the moon, forming the red moon that we see — the blood moon. This process, like the formation of the rainbow after the rain, is the result of a pattern of light transmission that has nothing to do with “good fortune”. Those so-called “pronouncements” that have no scientific basis are clearly uncompromising。
Historically, almost every single appearance of a special day has been accompanied by a variety of “disaster predictions”. From the ancient view of solar eclipses as a “dating moon” to the modern world, there are still various “end-of-life prophecies”, reflecting the instinctive fear of unknown phenomena. In the age of scientific underdevelopment, mythology was used to explain astronomical phenomena; but today, in the twenty-first century, it seems that these superstitions are still being held out of step。
This month of blood, of course, is also an opportunity to raise public scientific literacy. The law on the universalization of science and technology requires the state to encourage and support the participation of science and technology workers, educators, etc. In scientific activities, the dissemination of scientific ideas and the promotion of scientific spirit. In the face of rumours about the “red moon”, positive action should be taken by science workers, the media, etc. The press, such as the daily people's newspaper, had issued a full monthly forecast in advance, which was a strong counter to rumours. It is also possible to further explain the causes of the “blood moon” and expose rumours by means of short videos, scientific articles, etc., in accessible languages. It also increases the ability of ordinary people to identify, to think more about whether there is a real basis for it, to ask whether there is a “scientific basis” and not to forward unfounded rumours。
The history of the development of astronomy is itself the history of humankind that continues to break down superstition and to recognize an objective world. Each appearance of a special day should be an opportunity to spread scientific knowledge and the spirit of science rather than an arena for superstition. It is expected that this month's full-food observation will become a cosmopolitan feast that will make the beauty of the universe and the wonder of science more widely felt。
Original click:
The blood moon? Don't let superstition fail the cosmo-roma-chongqing daily
