[ti:Talking about What We See in Space]
[al:Everyday Grammar]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2024-06-28]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]Sky-watchers have had a busy year so far in 2024. 
[00:06.68]There has been much to see among the stars and planets. 
[00:12.46]In April, many people in the United States were able to watch a total eclipse of the sun.
[00:22.22]Coming up in the next few months there will be a nova of two stars.
[00:28.29]This week, we will learn about some of the special words you can use to talk about objects and events in the sky.
[00:40.00]A nova is a star explosion.
[00:44.97]A pair of stars called T Corona Borealis, called the "Blaze Star," will become very bright, so people almost everywhere on Earth, even in cities, can see it. 
[01:03.45]Scientists say the event will be "visible to the naked eye" which means you do not need any special tools, like binoculars or a telescope, to see it. 
[01:17.86]Visible is an adjective form related to the word "view."
[01:25.10]The two stars that form the Blaze Star produce an outburst, or increased period of energy, around every 80 years. 
[01:39.52]Rebekah Hounsell is an assistant research scientist specializing in nova events at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
[01:53.71]"We don't often see a repeated outburst in a human lifetime, and rarely one so relatively close to our own system," Hounsell said.
[02:07.86]Material from one star moves toward another and causes the explosion, or outburst, of energy.
[02:18.54]This makes the bright light we can see from Earth.
[02:23.90]Scientists say they are not sure exactly when we will be able to see the nova. 
[02:32.03]But you will surely hear about it on the news. 
[02:37.81]Your next question might be, "How can I find it in the sky?" This is when you will need to know the word "constellation" and how to find one in the sky.
[02:53.57]A constellation is a group of stars. Some constellations look like particular shapes to people on Earth. 
[03:03.89]The nova coming this year is in the constellation Corona Borealis, or Northern Crown.
[03:12.59]There are many uses for the preposition "between" for talking about the upcoming nova and its constellation. 
[03:23.85]If you make an imaginary line between the stars it in you get a curved line that looks like a head piece worn by kings and queens. 
[03:37.22]To find it, you can look for the two brightest stars in the Northern Hemisphere, Arcturus and Vega. 
[03:46.46]In the space between them you will find two constellations, Hercules and Bootes. Northern Crown is between them.
[03:58.09]People enjoyed another event in the sky in April: a total eclipse of the sun. 
[04:05.41]The moon moved between Earth and the sun, causing a shadow, or an area of darkness, on Earth. 
[04:13.62]The path of the moon's shadow on Earth is called the "path of totality."
[04:20.86]We can change an adjective such as "total" to a noun with the noun suffix -ity.
[04:31.10]The resulting noun means the state or condition of what the adjective describes.
[04:38.28]For example it is used with "active" to form "activity."
[04:45.04]The next total eclipse on Earth will be August 12, 2026, and it will be visible in Spain.
[04:51.79]And that's Everyday Grammar!
[04:58.99]I'm Andrew Smith.