月球正離你越來(lái)越遠(yuǎn)

有時(shí)候我們似乎覺得一天越來(lái)越長(zhǎng)了。這可能是因?yàn)槟阍诤湍承┨貏e討厭的人一起工作，這時(shí)你會(huì)覺得時(shí)間過得很慢，一小時(shí)好像變成了兩小時(shí)。而當(dāng)某個(gè)你十分期待也十分重要的假期快要來(lái)臨時(shí)，你也會(huì)感覺度日如年。在冬天的那幾個(gè)月里，太陽(yáng)不怎么露面，我們也會(huì)感覺時(shí)鐘上的指針?biāo)坪蹯o止不動(dòng)了。

It turns out that time actually is slipping by at a slower pace, at least over the last 1.4 billion years. Researchers say days on Earth have expanded from about 18 hours to 24 hours over that time span. That's because the moon is slowly getting farther away from the planet.

上述情況可能只是心理作用，時(shí)間并沒有明顯地增加。但事實(shí)證明，我們地球上的每一天確實(shí)正在以較慢的速度延長(zhǎng)，至少在過去的14億年里是這樣的。研究人員表示，地球上的一天的時(shí)間在14億年的時(shí)間里已經(jīng)從18小時(shí)延長(zhǎng)到了24小時(shí)。之所以會(huì)這樣，是因?yàn)樵虑蛘诼剡h(yuǎn)離地球。

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison used astrochronology, a statistical method that combines geological observation and astrological theory, to determine that days are stretching slowly. That included looking at climate rhythms — the way hat sunlight is distributed on a planet over time — to determine how quickly the Earth moved on its axis millions of years ago.

威斯康星大學(xué)麥迪遜分校的研究人員使用了一種被稱為天文年代學(xué)(這是一種將地質(zhì)觀測(cè)和天體學(xué)理論結(jié)合起來(lái)的統(tǒng)計(jì)方法)的方法來(lái)確定地球上一天的時(shí)間確實(shí)在緩慢地延長(zhǎng)。于此同時(shí)，研究人員還觀察了氣候節(jié)律——也就是太陽(yáng)光隨著時(shí)間的推移在行星上的分布變化，以確定幾百萬(wàn)年前地球在其軸上移動(dòng)的速度。

As the moon has moved away from Earth, that's changed the gravitational pull. Earth's constant spin has slowed in turn. That means it takes longer for the planet to do the 365 daily full turns as it makes its way around the sun each year.

當(dāng)月球開始慢慢遠(yuǎn)離地球的時(shí)候，兩者之間的萬(wàn)有引力就被改變了。地球受到來(lái)自月球的引力變小了，地球恒定的公轉(zhuǎn)速度也隨之變得緩慢了。這就意味著我們的地球每年在圍繞太陽(yáng)旋轉(zhuǎn)的時(shí)候，進(jìn)行365次全速飛行需要的時(shí)間更長(zhǎng)了。

If you're hoping the slow down means more time to sleep in each morning or a happy hour extension, think again. The days are expanding at a clip of about 1.8 milliseconds per century.

如果你認(rèn)為地球公轉(zhuǎn)慢下來(lái)意味著你每天早上有更多的時(shí)間用來(lái)睡懶覺，那你只能想想而已了。因?yàn)橐惶斓臅r(shí)長(zhǎng)延長(zhǎng)的速度可以說(shuō)是十分緩慢，大約正在以每世紀(jì)1.8毫秒的速度延長(zhǎng)。