August continues to be an exciting month for sky-gazers. Closely following the peak of the Perseid meteor shower last week, the first of the year's four consecutive supermoons is set to rise on August 19. The rare cosmic combination of a supermoon and blue moon peaks at 2:26 p.m. ET Monday. The last time this lunar event occurred was August 2023, and the next super blue moons are projected for January and March of 2037. Approximately one-quarter of all full moons are supermoons, while a mere 3% of full moons are blue moons.

八月对于天文爱好者来说依旧激动人心。继上周英仙座流星雨达到高峰之后，今年连续四个超级月亮的第一个将于8月19日升起。周一东部时间下午2点26分，超级月亮和蓝月亮这一罕见的宇宙组合将达到顶峰。上一次出现这种月相是在2023年8月，而下一次超级蓝月亮预计将在2037年1月和3月出现。所有满月中，大约有四分之一是超级月亮，而仅有3%的满月是蓝月亮。

So-called supermoons appear as the biggest and brightest lunar events of the year. The moon's orbit around Earth is not a perfect circle but an elliptical path. Scientists refer to the moon's nearest point to Earth — an average distance of about 226,000 miles (363,300 kilometers) — along its 27-day journey as the satellite's perigee, according to NASA.

所谓的超级月亮是每年最大最亮的月相。月球绕地球运行的轨道不是完美的圆形，而是椭圆形。据NASA称，科学家将月球在其27天旅程中离地球最近的一点（平均距离约为226000英里，即363300公里）称为近地点。

There are varied definitions for supermoons, said Noah Petro, lab chief of NASA's Planetary Geology, Geophysics and Geochemistry lab. However, a full moon within 90% of perigee is often described as a supermoon, he said.

NASA行星地质学、地球物理学和地球化学实验室主任诺亚·佩特罗表示，超级月亮的定义多种多样。然而，近地点90%以内的满月通常被称为超级月亮。

When the moon is closest to Earth in its orbit, it can appear up to 14% larger and 30% brighter than when it's at its farthest point from the planet, known as apogee, about 251,000 miles (405,500 kilometers) from Earth.

当月球在其轨道上离地球最近时，它看起来会比在离地球最远（称为远地点，距离地球约251000英里，即405500公里）时大14%，亮30%。

While this perceived size increase might be subtle, NASA describes a supermoon as noticeably brighter than other full moons throughout the year. It may be challenging to see the difference, but a supermoon significantly impacts Earth, leading to higher-than-normal tides due to its proximity.

尽管这种感知上的大小增加可能很微妙，但NASA描述超级月亮明显比全年其他满月更亮。虽然很难看出差异，但超级月亮对地球的影响很大，由于距离较近，会导致潮汐高于正常水平。

Supermoon visibility

超级月亮的可见性

Supermoons are observable to the naked eye and do not require a particular location for viewing. Throughout the night, the moon will rise higher until just before sunrise.

超级月亮肉眼可见，无需特定位置即可观测。整晚，月亮都会越升越高，直到日出前不久。

Shannon Schmoll, director of Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University, said if the sky is free of clouds and you have a clear view, you will be able to see the moon.

密歇根州立大学艾布拉姆斯天文馆主任香农·施莫尔表示，如果天空没有云层遮挡，视野清晰，就能看到月亮。

"It's bright enough that you don't need to go anywhere special," and visible right after the sun sets, she said. Petro said the joy of these full moons is that if cloud coverage obscures visibility, you can look any night before or after the full moon peaks.

“它足够亮，你不需要去任何地方特别的地方，”她说，“太阳刚落下时就能看到。” 佩特罗说，这些满月的乐趣在于，如果云层遮挡了视线，你可以在满月达到顶峰前后的任何夜晚观看。

"So there's really three days where the full moon is going to be most beautiful," he said.

“所以实际上有三天时间满月会最美，”他说。

"The thing about these super moons is because they're so much closer, they're also brighter." He noted that if it's a clear night, you may notice the shift in brightness outside. "You'll be treated to this beautiful sight in the sky, which is our moon hovering off in the distance."

“这些超级月亮的特点是，因为它们离地球更近，所以也更亮。”他指出，如果是一个晴朗的夜晚，你可能会注意到外面的亮度变化。“你将看到天空中美丽的景象，那是我们的月亮在远处闪耀。”

Because supermoons are 30% brighter than average full moons, they are more easily detectable.

由于超级月亮比平均满月亮30%，因此更容易观测到。

"It's going to be a little bit brighter, and it's always a good excuse to go outside and appreciate the universe, and our place in it, and what we can see from the Earth," Schmoll said.

施莫尔说：“天空会变得更加明亮，这总是一个好借口，让我们走出去欣赏宇宙，欣赏我们在宇宙中的位置，以及我们从地球上可以看到的东西。”

What are blue moons and sturgeon moons?

什么是蓝月亮和鲟鱼月亮？

Despite the name dating from 1528, the moon will not appear blue in color, NASA's Gordon Johnston wrote.

尽管这个名字起源于1528年，但月亮并不会呈现出蓝色，NASA的戈登·约翰斯顿表示。

"Only when there's a lunar eclipse does the moon appear to change color," Petro said.

“只有当发生月食时，月亮的颜色才会发生变化，”佩特罗说。

As with supermoons, there are varying definitions for blue moons — monthly and seasonal.

和超级月亮一样，蓝月亮也有不同的定义——月度蓝月亮和季度蓝月亮。

Schmoll explained that "on average, we have one full moon, per month, but because most of our months are slightly longer than a lunar cycle, that means if we end up with a moon right at the beginning of a month, we might have another full moon again at the very end of the month. So sometimes that's called a blue moon."

施莫尔解释说：“平均来说，我们每个月都会有一个满月，但因为我们的大部分月份都稍微长于一个农历周期，这意味着如果我们在月初就有一个满月，那么月底时我们可能又会迎来一个满月。所以有时这被称为蓝月亮。”

A seasonal blue moon is often defined as the third full moon of an astronomical season with four full moons.

季度蓝月亮通常被定义为在一个有四个满月的天文季节中的第三个满月。

"If you take a season, a season is about three months long. So in that time, you would normally have three full moons in a single season, and if you end up with four in a season, the third one of the four would be the blue moon, and that's what this blue moon is," Schmoll said.

施莫尔说：“如果你把一个季节看作大约三个月长的时间段，那么在这段时间里，你通常会在一个季节里看到三个满月，如果一个季节里出现了四个满月，那么这四个中的第三个就是蓝月亮，这就是这个蓝月亮的由来。”

In the 1930s, the Maine Farmer's Almanac started applying names corresponding to events in nature for the full moons, Petro said. These names have since become widely used and recognized. "Sturgeon moon originates from indigenous observations within the environment," he said.

佩特罗说，20世纪30年代，《缅因州农民年鉴》开始为满月命名，这些名字与自然事件相对应，并自那时起得到了广泛的使用和认可。“鲟鱼月亮起源于土著人对环境的观察，”他说。

Maine Farmer's Almanac states that the Algonquin tribes, who once lived in what is now the northeastern region of the United States, referred to the full moon in August as the sturgeon moon, named after the large fish caught more readily during this season.

《缅因州农民年鉴》指出，曾居住在美国东北部地区的阿尔冈昆部落将八月的满月称为鲟鱼月亮，因为在这个季节里更容易捕到大鱼鲟鱼。

Upcoming celestial events

即将发生的天文事件

Keep an eye out for Jupiter and Mars while peering at the moon, Schmoll said. Last week, the two planets were aligned in conjunction, reaching their closest proximity to each other from Earth's viewpoint since 2018. Jupiter and Mars will likely remain fairly close to one another in the sky during the supermoon's peak, Schmoll said.

施莫尔说，在看月亮的时候，要留意木星和火星。上周，这两颗行星在地球上空形成了一条直线，这是自2018年以来它们从地球上看起来距离最近的一次。施莫尔说，在超级月亮达到顶峰时，木星和火星可能仍会在天空中保持相对接近。

And in the next month or so, anticipate a brightening event, known as a nova, that will occur in the Milky Way's Corona Borealis, or Northern Crown constellation. Astronomers expect T Coronae Borealis, nicknamed Blaze Star, to explosively burst as a binary system of a dead white dwarf star and an aging red giant star violently collapse.

在接下来的一个月左右的时间里，预计银河系北冕座将发生一次增亮事件，即新星爆发。天文学家预计，被称为“烈焰星”的北冕座T星将会发生剧烈爆炸，这是因为由一颗死亡的白矮星和一颗老化的红巨星组成的双星系统会猛烈地坍缩。

"There'll be what looks like a new star in the constellation for a few days to a week before it fades from view. And this is something that happens every 80 years or so," Schmoll said. "That's something that we don't know exactly when it's going to happen, but we are expecting it to happen." Schmoll said.

施莫尔说：“在消失之前，这颗新星将在星座中像新星一样闪耀数天至一周。‘这种现象大约每80年发生一次，’”施莫尔说，“我们不知道它确切的发生时间，但我们预计它会发生。”

Remaining supermoons of the year

今年剩余的超级月亮

The remaining supermoons of 2024 will occur on September 18, October 17 and November 15. The September supermoon will also be a partial lunar eclipse, meaning Earth will cast its shadow over part of the moon, Petro said. "It's a partial one, so it's not going to be as obvious to a viewer," he said.

2024年剩余的超级月亮将出现在9月18日、10月17日和11月15日。佩特罗说，九月的超级月亮也将是月偏食，意味着地球将把它的阴影投射到月亮的一部分上。“这是一次月偏食，所以对观测者来说可能不太明显，”他说。

The fullest, largest moon of the year will rise in October. "The moon will actually be about 100 kilometers (62 miles) closer to the Earth on October 17," Petro said.

今年最大最圆的月亮将在十月升起。佩特罗说：“10月17日，月亮实际上将比地球近约100公里（62英里）。”

With the country experiencing a relatively large summer wave of COVID-19, the Food and Drug Administration is considering signing off on this year's strain-matched COVID-19 vaccines as soon as this week, according to a report by CNN that cited unnamed officials familiar with the matter.

据美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）援引不愿透露姓名的知情官员报道，随着美国经历相对较大的夏季COVID-19疫情浪潮，美国食品药品监督管理局（FDA）正考虑本周内批准与今年病毒株相匹配的COVID-19疫苗。

Last year, the FDA gave the green light for the 2023–2024 COVID shots on September 11, close to the peak of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in that year's summer wave. This year, the summer wave began earlier and, by some metrics, is peaking at much higher levels than in previous years.

去年，FDA于9月11日批准了2023-2024年度的COVID-19疫苗，这一时间接近当年夏季SARS-CoV-2传播高峰。而今年，夏季疫情浪潮来得更早，且根据某些指标，其峰值远高于往年。

Currently, wastewater detection of SARS-CoV-2 shows "very high" virus levels in 32 states and the District of Colombia. An additional 11 states are listed as having "high" levels. Looking at trends, the southern and western regions of the country are currently reporting SARS-CoV-2 levels in wastewater that rival the 2022–2023 and 2023–2024 winter waves, which both peaked at the very end of December.

目前，废水中的SARS-CoV-2检测结果显示，美国32个州及哥伦比亚特区病毒水平“非常高”，另有11个州被列为“高”水平。从趋势来看，美国南部和西部地区的废水中的SARS-CoV-2水平与2022-2023年和2023-2024年冬季疫情浪潮相当，这两次疫情浪潮均在12月底达到峰值。

Test positivity—a metric that has weakened given the dramatic decline in testing—shows a weekly test positivity rate of 18.1 percent for mid-August (amid a test volume of roughly 43,000). Such a rate, if truly reflective of cases, has not been seen since the initial towering omicron wave of January 2022, which peaked at 30.5 percent (with a test volume of roughly 991,000).

尽管检测数量大幅下降导致检测阳性率这一指标有所减弱，但8月中旬的每周检测阳性率仍为18.1%（检测量约为43000次）。如果这一比率真实反映了病例情况，那么自2022年1月奥密克戎变异株引发的首轮疫情浪潮（峰值达30.5%，检测量约为991,000次）以来，尚未出现过如此高的阳性率。

The good news is that given the substantial accumulation of protection from past infections and vaccinations, the two most serious metrics—emergency department visits and deaths—have not shown similar rises. The weekly percentage of emergency department visits with a COVID-19 diagnosis is low and similar to last year's summer wave. Deaths are likewise low, though they are still only provisional counts for the most recent weeks.

好消息是，由于过去感染和疫苗接种带来的大量保护，两个最严重的指标（急诊科就诊和死亡人数）并未出现类似增长。每周因COVID-19就诊的急诊科比例较低，与去年夏季疫情浪潮相似。尽管死亡人数仍处于较低水平，但最近几周的数据仍为临时统计。

The FDA has firmly embraced a strategy to offer annual COVID-19 vaccines in the run-up to winter waves, not summer waves. The agency's thinking has always been to encourage Americans to get their flu and COVID-19 vaccines together between September and November, just before a mob of cold-weather respiratory illnesses strike together. The fresh vaccination boost can dull the levels of severe respiratory disease at a time when health care systems are most at risk of becoming overwhelmed.

FDA已坚定采用在冬季疫情浪潮来临前提供年度COVID-19疫苗的策略，而非夏季。该机构的思路一直是鼓励美国人在9月至11月期间同时接种流感疫苗和COVID-19疫苗，以应对即将到来的寒冷天气和呼吸道疾病高发期。这种新的疫苗接种加强可以在医疗系统最有可能不堪重负的时候降低严重呼吸道疾病的发病率。

Seasonality

季节性

But, while seasonal flu and some other respiratory viruses reliably surge almost exclusively in the winter, the seasonality of COVID-19 was never a given. And, so far, summer waves have arisen as consistently as winter ones, creating some awkwardness for the vaccine releases.

然而，虽然季节性流感和其他一些呼吸道病毒几乎只在冬季激增，但COVID-19的季节性却从未确定。迄今为止，夏季疫情浪潮的出现与冬季一样频繁，这给疫苗发布带来了一些尴尬。

Some experts have recommended getting a COVID-19 vaccine to protect against the summer surge. "Now is the time to get a dose with this surge," Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told CNN on Sunday.

一些专家建议接种COVID-19疫苗以抵御夏季疫情激增。“现在是趁着这波疫情接种的时候了，”明尼苏达大学传染病研究与政策中心主任迈克尔·奥斯特霍姆周日告诉CNN。

However, the only vaccines currently available target last year's strains (related to the XBB.1.5 omicron variant), which are long gone and may not offer strong protection against current strains (JN.1 and KP.2 omicron variants). Even if the 2024–2025 KP.2-targeting vaccine is approved by the FDA this week and hits pharmacy shelves next week, a dose takes two weeks to produce full protection. By that time, the summer wave will likely be declining. In fact, it looks to have already peaked in some parts of the country, including in some southern and western areas.

然而，目前唯一可用的疫苗针对的是去年的病毒株（与XBB.1.5奥密克戎变异株相关），这些病毒株早已消失，可能无法为当前病毒株（JN.1和KP.2奥密克戎变异株）提供强有力的保护。即使2024-2025年度针对KP.2的疫苗本周获得FDA批准并在下周上架，接种一剂疫苗也需要两周时间才能产生全面保护。届时，夏季疫情浪潮可能已经减弱。事实上，包括一些南部和西部地区在内的美国部分地区疫情似乎已经达到了峰值。

The other thing to consider is timing for maximum protection for the likely winter wave. For healthy people five years old and above, the CDC recommended getting only one shot last year. The shots offer peak protection for around four months. If you get your annual shot at the beginning of September, your protection may be on the decline if COVID-19 peaks again at the turn of the year,as it has the past two years.

另一件需要考虑的事情是为了可能到来的冬季疫情浪潮提供最大保护的接种时机。对于五岁以上健康人群，美国疾病控制与预防中心（CDC）去年建议接种一针即可。这些疫苗提供的峰值保护期约为四个月。如果你在9月初接种了年度疫苗，那么如果COVID-19在年底再次达到高峰（如过去两年一样），你的保护可能已经减弱。

According to the 2023–2024 guidance, people who are 65 and older can get a second COVID-19 booster four months after getting their first. People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised may also get additional doses of the updated COVID-19 vaccine.

根据2023-2024年度的指导方针，65岁及以上人群在接种第一剂疫苗四个月后可以接种第二剂COVID-19加强针。中度和重度免疫功能低下者也可以接种更新版COVID-19疫苗的额外剂次。