“这真是令人难以置信的景象”：新英格兰天空观测者准备好观看历史性的日食
【中美创新时报2024年4月8日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）在周一历史性的日食发生之前，布莱恩·默诺夫（Brian Mernoff）没有冒任何风险。一年前，他和家人在佛蒙特州斯托预订了酒店房间，并于周日清晨从阿克顿驱车约 200 英里来到这里。对此，《波士顿环球报》记者约翰·希利亚德作了下述报道。
当然，如果他们坚持在波士顿，他们会看到壮观的日偏食。但他们想看到月亮完全遮住太阳。 负责管理麻省理工学院 AeroAstro 通信实验室的 34 岁科学教育家梅尔诺夫 (Mernoff) 表示，现在他们不可能错过这个机会。
“我只是喜欢探索，”他说。 “日全食是观看太阳和月亮的一种非常不同的方式。”
这次日全食将使美国大陆的大片地区——从德克萨斯州到缅因州——沿着其全食路径陷入黑暗。在新英格兰，这条道路横穿佛蒙特州北部和新罕布什尔州以及缅因州的大部分地区，吸引了大量游客前往沿线社区。
据报道，周末向北行驶的交通状况并没有那么糟糕。但回到马萨诸塞州的家后，准备长途骑行。
“我们被告知这就像离开吉列体育场一样，”钱德拉·亚当斯 (Chandra Adams) 和家人从牛顿开车前往佛蒙特州南伯灵顿。 “这将是残酷的，但我们会应对。”
AAA 将本周的旅行与感恩节或圣诞节进行比较，部分原因是与春假度假者重叠。而且酒店都订满了。据 AAA 称，许多有幸获得住宿的人必须支付至少 50% 的加价。
但日食也有望将新英格兰变成一场盛大的派对。在整个地区，计划在滑雪胜地和城市举办观看派对，然后在尚普兰湖畔举办舞会。
据缅因州卡里布市的 Facebook 页面显示，在该市陷入黑暗之前，这个拥有约 7,400 人的社区将在其娱乐和健康中心开放其官方“星公园”。新罕布什尔州康科德市的麦考利夫-谢泼德探索中心将在中午观看日偏食，该中心将从中午开始举办观看派对。
由于太阳完全被月亮遮挡，白天变成了黑暗，出现了“360度”日落。空气变冷，风向改变。还有太阳的日冕在天空中燃烧的景象。
梅尔诺夫说：“你会在天空中看到一个黑色的圆盘，所有这些细小的线条都来自太阳，并从边缘脱落。” “这真是令人难以置信的景象。”
对于那些靠近波士顿的人来说，虽然展览可能没有那么引人注目，但还是会举办观看活动，例如在布莱顿图书馆分馆、萨默维尔中央图书馆、剑桥主图书馆以及全州各地，包括几个州立公园。
更重要的是：今年春天新英格兰看似无尽的灰色、沉闷的天气应该会在周一迎来蓝天。
全球气象学家肯·马汉表示，新英格兰将迎来一些“观看日食的最佳天气”，并且“阳光充足”。
马汉周一表示：“沿海地区气温将升至 50 多度，内陆气温将升至 60 多度。” “预计今天下午一些高层云层将从西边袭来，但不会影响视野。而且他们也不一定能及时赶到！”
上一次日全食路径穿过美国本土是在 2017 年。据美国国家航空航天局 (NASA) 称，下一次还需要二十年时间。在波士顿，日偏食将于下午 2:16 开始，并在下午 3:29 达到顶峰。
在佛蒙特州伯灵顿，将发生全食，该事件于下午 2:14 开始。据 NASA 的 Eclipse Explorer 称，这次日全食将从下午 3 点 26 分开始，持续约三分钟。在新罕布什尔州科尔布鲁克和缅因州霍尔顿等地，日全食也将持续约三分钟。
45 岁的亚当斯和她的家人在一个多月前预订了佛蒙特州南伯灵顿的一家酒店，原因是对美国本土下一次日全食长达数十年的等待。她和她的丈夫都在生物技术领域工作，他们对日食的科学好奇促使他们把自己 8 岁和 11 岁的孩子从位于牛顿的学校退学。
对于亚当斯来说，她想看看大自然的反应，并且对鸟类对日食的反应特别感兴趣。
“我是一名科学家，这真是令人着迷，”亚当斯说。 “白天是黑暗的，不应该是黑暗的。”
佛蒙特州交通局发言人艾米·塔特科 (Amy Tatko) 表示，该州官员估计将有多达 16 万人和 6 万辆车辆从州外进入佛蒙特州，观看周一的日食。 她说，周末北行高速公路上的交通量也有所增加。
据该州交通局称，该州官员建议人们通过发送短信 VTECLIPSE 至 888777 来注册实时警报，以接收与佛蒙特州日食相关的通知。
“如果您的家人或朋友来观看日食，请鼓励他们做好延误的准备或停留更长时间，以避免预期的交通拥堵。如果他们必须立即离开，请帮助他们在较小的高速公路或当地道路上找到替代路线，”该机构表示。
AAA 发言人 Mark Schieldrop 表示，AAA 预计新英格兰地区的交通流量——尤其是全食路径沿线通往城市的主要路线——将打破 4 月份本周的记录。
在新罕布什尔州，该州的交通机构建议人们通过 newengland511.org 计划行程，这样他们就能收到有关路线的最新交通信息，包括交通和道路封闭情况。
47 岁的蒂姆·阿德勒 (Tim Adler) 与妻子和三个孩子从牛顿中心开车前往魁北克省梅戈格与朋友一起观看日食，对于他来说，长途驾驶是值得的。
已经很久了。两年前，他十几岁的儿子在家庭日历上记下日食的日期。“我们一直在走，”阿德勒说。
“我认为这将成为孩子们的回忆，也是一次有趣的公路旅行，”阿德勒说。 “到目前为止，天气很好。”
题图：参观者通过设置在缅因州霍尔顿城镇广场上的一副超大日食眼镜观看。 数百万人涌向北美“日全食路径”地区，观看日全食。JOE RAEDLE/GETTY
附原英文报道：
It’s just an incredible sight’: New England sky watchers ready for historic eclipse
By John Hilliard Globe Staff,Updated April 7, 2024
Well ahead of Monday’s historic solar eclipse, Brian Mernoff wasn’t taking any chances. He and his family booked their hotel room in Stowe, Vt., a year ago, and made the roughly 200-mile drive from Acton early Sunday morning.
Sure, if they stuck to Boston, they’d see a spectacular partial eclipse. But they wanted to see the moon completely obscure the sun. Now, there is no way they’ll miss it, said Mernoff, a 34-year-old science educator who manages MIT’s AeroAstro Communication Lab.
“I just like exploring,” he said. “A total solar eclipse is a very different way to see the sun and the moon.”
The eclipse will plunge a huge swath of the continental United States — from Texas to Maine — into darkness along its path of totality. In New England, that path cutting across northern Vermont and New Hampshire, along with much of Maine, is drawing a crush of travelers to communities all along the route.
Traffic wasn’t reported to be so bad heading up north over the weekend. But getting back home to Massachusetts, settle in for a long ride.
“We’ve been told it’s going to be like getting out of Gillette Stadium,” said Chandra Adams who drove up to South Burlington, Vt., from Newton with her family. “It’s going to be brutal, but we will deal.”
AAA is comparing travel this week to Thanksgiving or Christmas, thanks in part to overlap with spring break vacationers. And hotels are booked solid. Many of those fortunate enough to get a place to stay had to pay at least a 50 percent mark-up, according to AAA.
But the eclipse also promises to turn New England into one heck of a party. Across the region, viewing parties are planned at ski resorts, in cities, and afterward a dance party on the shore of Lake Champlain.
In Caribou, Maine, the community of about 7,400, will open its official “Star Park” at its Recreation & Wellness Center before the city is plunged into darkness, according to the city’s Facebook page. At New Hampshire’s McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord, which will see a partial eclipse, the center will host a viewing party beginning at noon.
With the sun totally blocked by the moon, daytime turns to darkness, and a “360 degree” sunset emerges. The air gets colder, the winds change. And there’s that sight of the sun’s corona burning in the sky.
“You see a black disk in the sky, with all these wispy lines that are coming off the sun, and getting thrown off the edges,” Mernoff said. “It’s just an incredible sight.”
And for those sticking closer to Boston, while the show may not be as dramatic, there will be viewing events, such as at the Brighton Branch Library, Somerville’s Central Library, Cambridge’s Main Library, and across the state, including several state parks.
And what’s more: New England’s seemingly endless gray, dreary weather this spring should make way for blue skies Monday.
Globe meteorologist Ken Mahan said New England will have some of the “best eclipse viewing weather” with “lots of sunshine.”
“Temperatures will bump up to the upper 50s by the coast, and low 60s inland,” Mahan said Monday. “Some high-level clouds are expected to creep in from the west this afternoon but won’t impact the view. And they may not make it in time anyway!”
The last time a solar eclipse’s path of totality crossed the contiguous United States was in 2017; the next one won’t be for another two decades, according to NASA. In Boston, the partial eclipse will start at 2:16 p.m., and reach its peak at 3:29 p.m.
In Burlington, Vt., where a full eclipse will occur, the event begins at 2:14 p.m. The total eclipse will last about three minutes, starting from 3:26 p.m., according to NASA’s Eclipse Explorer. The total eclipse will also last about three minutes in places like Colebrook, N.H., and Houlton, Maine.
The decades-long wait for the next total eclipse in the contiguous United States is what led Adams, 45, and her family to book a hotel in South Burlington, Vt., more than a month ago. She and her husband both work in biotech, and their scientific curiosity about the eclipse led them to pull their children — ages 8 and 11 — out of school in Newton.
For Adams, she wanted to see the reaction from nature, and is particularly interested in how birds respond to the eclipse.
“I’m a science person, it’s just fascinating,” Adams said. “It’s darkness during the day, when it shouldn’t be.”
Amy Tatko, a spokesperson for Vermont’s Agency of Transportation, said state officials estimate as many as 160,000 people and 60,000 vehicles will be entering Vermont from out of state for Monday’s eclipse. Over the weekend, there was also increased traffic on northbound highways, she said.
State officials recommended people sign up for real-time alerts by texting VTECLIPSE to 888777 to receive notifications related to the eclipse in Vermont, according to the state’s Agency of Transportation.
“If your family or friends are visiting for the eclipse, encourage them to be prepared for delays or stay longer to avoid anticipated traffic. If they must leave right away, help them find an alternate route on smaller highways or local roads,” the agency said.
AAA expects traffic across New England — particularly the major routes toward cities along the path of totality —to break records for this week in the month of April, according to Mark Schieldrop, a AAA spokesperson.
In New Hampshire, that state’s transportation agency recommended people plan their trip with newengland511.org, so they would receive up-to-date traffic information about their routes, including traffic and road closures.
For Tim Adler, 47, who drove up with his wife and their three children from Newton Centre to watch the eclipse with friends in Magog, Quebec, the long drive will be worth it.
It’s been a long time coming. His teenage son noted the date of the eclipse on the family calendar two years ago. “We were always going,” Adler said.
“I think it’s going to be a memory for the kids, and a fun road trip,” Adler said. “And so far, the weather’s beautiful.”
