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度假胜地观星—惬意无比
Stargazing at a 1)Resort, in Comfort
As the sun sets over the Atacama Desert in Chile each reliably cloudless night, 2)dazzling 3)ruby red and 4)garnet hues paint the volcanic Andes Mountain peaks in the eastern skyline, deepening almost 5)imperceptibly until they are 6)indistinguishable from black. That would be the grand 7)finale at many resort areas. But here, it is merely the opening act.
在每一个晴朗无云的夜晚，当太阳从智利的阿塔卡马沙漠落下时，东方天际的安第斯火山的顶峰笼罩着一片耀眼的红色，这种宝石红与石榴红调和而成的色彩几乎在不知不觉中加深，直到与夜黑融为一体。对于许多度假胜地来说，这将意味着一天的完美结束，而在这里，仅仅是开场表演。
After the nearest star had set one evening last August, I peered through the 8)Meade 16-inch telescope in the 15-foot 9)observatory of the Hotel de Larache in San Pedro de Atacama to see the main attraction: the Alpha Centauri stars that, without the benefit of 10)magnification, look like one; the misty, yellow Swan Nebula; and the Scorpio 11)Constellation’s bi-winged Butterfly Cluster.
去年八月，当最亮的那颗星星挂上天幕时，我正站在圣佩德罗阿塔卡马的拉腊什酒店那15英尺高的望台上，用16英寸长的米德望远镜欣赏夜空最具吸引力的半人马座阿尔法星群（如果没有被望远镜放大的话，它看起来就像只有一颗星星）和朦胧的黄色天鹅星云以及天蝎座的双翼蝴蝶星群景象。
This remote desert, roughly 800 miles north of Santiago, offers some of the clearest views of the Milky Way in the world, making it a natural home to a cluster of high-tech research observatories used by international astronomers. The resorts at Atacama are no 12)outliers. Stargazing has increasingly become an alternative to traditional after-sundown dining and drinking at hotels and resorts. Call it night life for nerds.
在这个距离智利首都圣地亚哥以北约800英里的偏远沙漠，人们可以看到一些世界上最为清晰的银河景观，于是这里便成了望台的聚集地，国际天文学家通过这些高科技研究型望台来研究夜空。阿塔卡马的这些度假胜地也不例外。以前每当日落后，人们在酒店和度假胜地吃饭饮酒消遣，而现在，观星已逐渐成了另一种选择。观星就是书呆子们的夜生活。
“For people who live in the cities, the only way to see the stars in safety and in comfort without worrying about what might happen in the dark is at a resort,” said Rick Fienberg, a spokesman for the American Astronomical Society, based in Washington.
美国天文学会（总部设于华盛顿）发言人里克·弗因伯格说：“现在，对于住在城市的人来说，要安全舒适地观星而不必担心黑夜里会发生什么，就只能在度假胜地观星了。”
I first encountered stargazing tourism several years ago at the Maui Resort and Spa in Hawaii, a 40-acre resort with 13)sweeping views of Kaanapali Beach. Instead of drinking 14)mai tais at the bar or attending a 15)luau, I joined Eddie Mahoney, an astronomer, who led our group of 12 to the roof of the hotel’s nine-story main building. The relatively high perch and resort lighting—designed to 16)angle down rather than shine up—preserved the dark setting for his three 50-minute nightly public stargazing sessions ($25 a person).
几年前，我在夏威夷的毛伊岛水疗度假村首次接触到“观星游”这一概念，在这个40英亩的度假胜地上，卡亚纳帕里海滩的风光可以尽收眼底。我没有在酒吧喝迈代鸡尾酒，也没去参加夏威夷烤猪派对，而是跟随天文学家埃迪·马奥尼带领的12人小组去高达九层的酒店主楼楼顶观星。较高的位置和度假村的照明（该设计使灯光向下投射而非向天上散射）使黑夜的环境得以保存，从而使埃迪·马奥尼主持的三场夜间公开观星活动得以顺利进行，每场活动持续50分钟，费用为每人25美元。
