Science has opened the door to the mysteries of the starry sky, and the infinite universe is gradually being recognized. On August 30, 1975, at 19:35 Beijing time, there is an ordinary young man, with the naked eye found in the constellation of the swan appeared a new star. This person is Duan Yuanxing, a young man who went to the countryside to learn about the countryside in the Dabu brigade of the Bamboo Board Commune in Ningdu County, Jiangxi Province.
Since then, more than two years have passed. Duan Yuanxing received more than six hundred letters from all over the country. One of them was written to him by several People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers from an island-guarding unit on the Fujian front. With a strong desire to learn from Duan Yuanxing, they earnestly asked: "Comrade Duan Yuanxing, how did you discover this new star by means of visual observation? What kind of journey have you traveled on the road of amateur astronomical research?"
The Little Astronomy Fans
The summer night in Jiangnan, the frogs sound like a tide, the moon color like silver. After dinner, some of the children chased hide-and-seek, some ran to catch fireflies. But little Yuanxing loved to sit with a few buddies on the stone slab in front of the door, listening to Uncle Wang next door tell stories of the sky.
When Uncle Wang told one story after another, Little Yuanxing was fascinated. He held his cheeks in his small hands and thought: "There is a Chang'e sister who can sing and dance in the moon, right? The long and wide Milky Way in the sky, is not also like the Ningdu Meijiang River flowing? Is Mars really burning with fire? Is Venus full of gold? These endless questions, evoking a strong desire to explore the mysteries of the firmament.
Duan Yuanli was in middle school.
One day, he borrowed a copy of "Astronomy Enthusiast" from his teacher, sat in front of the window, read it greedily, read it, and was completely attracted by an article about the moon published in the magazine. It turned out that the moon shines by reflecting sunlight. The shadow on the moon is not a laurel tree, but a vast "ocean" without water. These places are low lying and reflect sunlight poorly, so they appear darker. There is no air on the moon, no living things, not to mention Chang'e's sister and Wu Gang's grandfather. The temperature there can change a lot, as high as one hundred and ten degrees at noon, but in the middle of the night fell to minus one hundred and fifty degrees ......
Ho! The original face of the moon turned out to be so ah! So why does the moon go round and round? Solar eclipse, lunar eclipse is what is going on? At this time, Duan Yuanxing dimly realized: scientific answers to these natural phenomena in the sky, for people to break the ghosts and gods thought, correctly understand the world, transform the world, will be of great help ah!
One sunny Sunday, Duan Yuanxing saw an article published in the People's Daily in the school library. As he read it, his eyebrows almost knitted into a ball. Why? It turned out that he learned from the article: our great motherland is one of the world's earliest countries in the development of astronomy, but, due to the destruction of the reactionary ruling class and the invasion of imperialism, the motherland's astronomical cause lagged behind the world's advanced level.
Duan Yuanxing held the newspaper and pondered for a long time. He thought:Chairman Mao issued a great call as early as 1956: "To strive to change our backwardness in economy and science and culture within a few decades, and quickly reach the advanced level in the world." This is the party and the leader to the young generation of the historical burden ah!
At this moment, a wonderful ideal sprouted up in Duan Yuanxing's heart. He ran back to the classroom in a hurry, and wrote down such a strong oath in his diary: "For the astronomical cause of the motherland, for the bright future of mankind, fight! Fight! Fight for life! Contribute everything!"
From then on, the fourteen-year-old Duan Yuanxing became an "astronomy fan".
One night in the middle of summer, the school organized a movie for the students. On the way to the cinema, Duan Yuanxing gazed at the stars in the sky, trying to tell which was the Phoenix constellation, which was the Peacock constellation, which was the Fairy constellation, and then forgot to look at the road, and crashed his body into a utility pole. He replaced his sore forehead and continued to look up at the stars. He didn't go far, but he stepped on his feet again and fell into the roadside ditch with a thud.
One year in the fall, Ningdu County for five days and five nights of howling winds and torrential rain. Duan Yuanxing's home, located on the banks of the Meijiang River, was flooded. On the sixth night, the rain cleared up and the clouds dispersed, and the clear night sky revealed crystal bright stars. Duan Yuanxing wanted to go outside the house to observe ah! However, the flood waters have not yet receded, he had to explore half of the body from the upstairs window, cruising after the starry sky. That very night, he observed two meteors that rarely appeared in the direction of the constellation of Pony.
On a cold, frosty winter night, his mother wouldn't let him go out to look at the sky. The clever Duan Yuanxing waited for his mom and dad to fall asleep, quietly opened the window next to his bed, lay on his bed and watched the stars, and then wrote the observation results with a ballpoint pen on the palm of his hand.......
Six years passed in this way. By the time Duan Yuanxing graduated from Ningdu Middle School, he had made six hundred and forty-two starry nights of celestial observations, recorded data about fifteen variable stars and three hundred and ninety-one meteors, and written down one hundred thousand words of celestial information. He could calculate the moment of the sun's rise and fall every day and the length of day and night; he could calculate the position of planets, comets and other celestial bodies on the celestial sphere and their moving routes according to the orbital equations of celestial mechanics; he could relatively accurately project the moments of the twenty-four festivals of a year, with an error of only a few minutes; during the daytime, he could determine the time according to the angle of the sun away from the local meridian by the thumb-o'-the-wheel method; in the evening, he could project the time based on the position of the star moving across the sky; at night, he could project the time based on the position of the stars in the sky moving position to deduce the time.
The earth weather station
In the late winter of 1968, when the red plums of the mountains were in bud, Duan Yuanxing came to Dabu Brigade of Bamboo Board Commune in Ningdu County to settle down.
The day he entered the village, the members of the community greeted him with gongs and drums. A couple of ladies, joyfully trembling, sent a few baskets of fresh green lei. In the evening, Wen, the secretary of the brigade, came to his place and chatted with him until the middle of the night. Before leaving, Secretary Wen shook his hand and said: "Xiao Duan ah, you love astronomy, insist on amateur astronomical research, this is very good, the party branch to support you. At the same time, we also hope that your scientific research activities, can be combined with changing the backwardness of the countryside."
That night, Duan Yuanxing lay in bed, unable to sleep for a long time. The members of the community to his family-like care and love, the brigade secretary Wen's ardent expectations, y excited his young heart. He climbed up, lit a kerosene lamp, and wrote this paragraph in his diary: "The Party! It is you who nurtured my growth, gave me cultural and scientific knowledge. Now in the countryside, I must listen to your words, vowed to build a new socialist countryside to contribute their youth!"
A few months later, spring sowing began. When the goose-yellow seedlings had just been exposed to the water, a cold wave suddenly hit Ningdu, and the temperature plummeted to zero. The team's seedlings all froze to death. Duan Yuanxing, like the members, was heartbroken! He squatted at the edge of the rice paddies, looking at the rotting seedlings for a long time contemplating: If I could predict the weather changes in advance, and take precautionary measures early, I would not have caused such a big loss!
Since then, he has been determined to combine his amateur astronomical research with meteorological observation.
He caught some leeches from the paddy fields and put them in a small glass bottle filled with water. The weather is normal, the leeches will be quiet at the bottom of the water does not move too much; if they feel very suffocated, and frequently floated to the surface to breathe, it is a sign that the weather is going to change. Later, he went to cut a few pine branches, peeled off the scale-like skin, nailed it to the earth brick wall, called "pine branches rain gauge". He then predicted sunny or rainy days based on the magnitude of the pine branches' expansion and movement each day.
Duan Yuanxing this "earth weather station", in the end, the spirit of it? Here is just one interesting thing.
It was a summer harvest and summer planting season, the local long time not a drop of rain, the terraces in the mountain towns early cracked, need to pump irrigation, in order to be able to plant the late rice down. However, if the production team arranges more laborers to fight the drought and rush planting, the early rice, which has already ripened and collapsed, will suffer losses due to delayed harvesting. What a pair of sharp contradictions! The members of the community in the field are discussing, the captain's heart is more anxious as burning a fire.
At this time, Duan Yuanxing, who was cutting the grain, looked up at the sky, walked to the captain, and said happily: "Captain, let's transfer all the laborers to harvest the early rice! Look, isn't there a hook cloud in the sky? As the saying goes: 'Hooks and clouds in the sky, rain showers on the ground'. According to my weather observations these days, it will rain heavily tomorrow. At that time, the team will then concentrate its labor force to plant late rice."
The captain asked half-heartedly, "Will it really rain?"
Duan Yuanxing replied with confidence: "It will really rain!"
The captain turned his concern into joy, and immediately concentrated his labor on a surprise harvest of fallen early rice. In the evening of the next day, there was indeed a rumble of thunder and a downpour of rain. The captain looked at the mountains and fields of the vast smoky rain, said cheerfully: "There is Yuanxing this child tube sky ah, to seize the harvest will be more certain!"
The young Duan Yuanxing, in order to change the face of poverty and backwardness of the village, in order to capture the agricultural production of a good harvest, he with his own fire-like enthusiasm, exuberant energy, years and years of tireless busy.
In the winter of 1973, the party branch of the brigade asked him to draw a map of the basic construction of farmland. In the drawing of the plan, there is a piece of north-south length of three miles, east-west width of two miles of the lot, is the focus of the basic construction of farmland. The terrain there was unusually complex with winding mountains and gullies. The party branch asked Duan Yuanxing to draw the five hundred and eighty-six paddies, eight hundred drylands, forty-eight hills, ninety ponds, and the location of six production teams on the planning map of one centimeter equal to twenty meters on the ground, and asked to indicate the area and height of each mound of paddy fields. As you can imagine, to complete such a difficult task, for a never engaged in surveying and mapping work in the countryside knowledge of young people, the difficulties are really big ah!
In the face of difficulties, Duan Yuanxing did not frown. Measurement of the planning map without latitude and longitude, he made his own "bamboo telescope" instead; no pole, he borrowed from the members of the three sunshine Penny instead; no compass, he will use the sun during the day, relying on the Polaris at night to measure the geographic area of the azimuthal angle. In those days, he got up at dawn every day, covered with cold dew on the mountain road, leaving his two lines of clear footprints; twilight shrouded the village, families burning cooking, he only touched the dark back to the residence. Here, we can roughly calculate his itinerary: forty-eight hills, he climbed more than a thousand times; twenty-four ridges and one thousand three hundred and eighty-six terraces, everywhere embedded in his footprints ......
A month or so later, a colorful "Dabu brigade of basic construction of farmland Wen Wen looked at the plan, with a loving gaze at Duan Yuanxing, found that he was thin, two eyes full of blood, cheeks and hands by the frost wind cracked. He said: "Yuanxing ah, you have worked hard, take a good rest for a few days!"
Duan Yuanxing, however, replied: "Wait until the vision on the planning map becomes a beautiful reality, then consider resting!"
Later, the vision on the planning map finally turned into a beautiful reality. The more than three hundred acres of low-yield fields in that key lot, which used to yield only two hundred pounds of grain per acre, have now been transformed to reach four hundred pounds in a single season.
But Duan Yuanxing is not resting.
Wish I was alive to be more productive
Just a year after Duan Yuanxing came to the countryside, on April 24, 1970, China successfully launched its first artificial Earth satellite. Chairman Mao's call for a satellite has been realized!
The good news came, Duan Yuanxing hand in hand with a self-made telescope, looking at the invitation to space satellite, listening to the radio broadcast from the satellite back to the "Red East" music, heart pounding, passionate. That night, he waved his pen and wrote this magnificent poem:
The summer and winter are devoted to the observation of the sky,
Without sparing many years of time.
I wish to be alive and productive,
Vow to fight for the glory of the motherland!
Then he made four amateur astronomical research plans for himself: first, to continue meteorological observations and make weather forecasts for the production team; second, to observe irregular variable stars; third, to look for new stars; and fourth, to discover comets.
In order to realize his amateur scientific research plan, Duan Yuanxing is really blood and sweat, spared no time ah!
Spring, summer, fall and winter of each sunny day dawn, always see him standing high on the peak of the bullock stacks, such as stupid as a dull look up at the head of the starry sky. The first time I saw him was when he was in the middle of the night, when he was in the middle of the night, when he was in the middle of the night.
During the busy seasons of spring planting and the "double grab", the production team often had to work night shifts to pull out the rice seedlings. On the Rimu path to and from the rice paddies, he always kept his eyes on the stars in the sky. At the same time, he held a long stick to probe the path in case he lost his footing and fell into the paddy field.
Wedding night. People in the village guessed that he would not come out to watch the sky, right? However, moncler outlet online, who woke up early to collect dung, still saw his familiar figure in the field.
On one occasion, Duan Yuanxing was sick. The first time I saw him, he was in the middle of the night, and he had to get up again to see the sky. His wife advised him, "You're sick, so don't go today!"
Duan Yuanxing replied: "I checked from the information that there will be a meteor cluster in Orion constellation in these days, in order to confirm and study it, I must go." With that, he opened the door and left. He just walked out a few steps, the village's ferocious big yellow dog "woof woof" barked furiously, and then "hoo" jumped to his front, and bit him on the stomach of his leg. At once, crimson blood flowed down his calf. Duan Yuanxing did not grunt, still limping towards the observation site.
Returning home, his wife saw that his pants were wet with dew and his legs were bleeding, and said in pain: "You, you don't know how to take care of your body."
Duan Yuanxing smiled and sat down at the table. He was going to write an observation report on the moment, position and brightness of the Orion Meteor Cluster that he had recorded and send it to the capital's astronomical research organization.
Just as Duan Yuanxing walked the bumpy country roads every day, his path of determined struggle for his ideals was also winding.
While he was climbing toward the peak of amateur astronomical research, the Gang of Four blew a demon wind that denied science and knowledge, and the slogan "I'd rather have the grass of socialism than the treasures of capitalism" seemed to have become fashionable. Some people who didn't understand him talked behind his back, saying: "I'm afraid Duan Yuanxing has a mental illness, right? Who is like him, getting up in the middle of the night to look at the stars." Some people even ridiculed him to his face: "You can't even control the things on earth, but you still want to control the things in the sky? You can fan out of what the hall of fame yo!"
These words later reached the ears of Duan Yuanxing's mother. Mom is a housewife, originally did not agree with the son to engage in astronomical research, and now hear these gossips, can not help but be angry and stormy. She thought to herself: "What a useless child, I must teach him a good lesson!
On this day, the mother came to the Dabu brigade, and asked her son straight away: "Hearing those words, you will not be ashamed of ah?"
The son calmly replied, "Let them talk! I'll do my astronomy."
"Astronomy, astronomy, astronomy can be a meal! If you had that kind of spirit to study medicine, you would have been a doctor that everyone would be begging for!"
"The construction of the motherland needs astronomy, agricultural production needs astronomy. To be a doctor is to serve the people, and to engage in astronomy is also to serve the people!"
Seeing that she couldn't convince her son, mom was so angry that she grabbed a book on astronomy on the table, tore it up with a few snorts, and threw it into the stove. Then she grabbed a few astronomy magazines and threw them onto the roof with a "hula". She felt that it was not enough to be angry, and then raised the wood knife, the son's self-made "bamboo telescope" split in half!
Mother's anger, the son is understood. However, the pressure of those cold words is really great!
That night, Duan Yuanxing sat alone in front of the lamp and gazed at the portrait of Chairman Mao on the wall for a long time, just as he usually gazed up at the Big Dipper. He remembered the great call issued by Chairman Mao in 1956 ......
After a while, he bowed his head on the table, gently opened the diary and wrote this heartfelt words: "The reason why I want to insist on astronomical scientific research is not to get something The reason why I want to insist on doing astronomical research is not to make any 'fame' to hunt for fame and fortune, nor is it to fight for my personal reputation to refute these arguments and ridicule. I just thought of doing more of what I should do for the development of the astronomical cause of the motherland and for the development of agricultural production!"
Nova
The geese that report spring, fly over the beautiful fields of Jiangnan again. The mountains are green, the trees are green, the flowers are blooming, and the rattling of the Meijiang River has become extraordinarily crisp.
This is the spring of the seventh year of Duan Yuanxing's insertion in the countryside. The beloved Premier Zhou Enlai, according to Chairman Mao's instructions, issued at the fourth session of the National People's Congress to make our country realize the four modernizations in this century, such as the warm spring breeze blew into the heart of Duan Yuanxing. The seed of the ideal that he has nurtured with his heart and soul for many years is about to germinate, blossom and bear fruit!
On August 30, 1975, Duan Yuanxing returned to his hometown in Ningdu County from the Dabu Brigade for business. After dinner, he went to the Meijiang River for a swim.
The clear Meijiang River reflects the stars in the sky. Duan Yuanxing gently paddled the water, as if swimming in the sea of stars between the Milky Way. After swimming for a while, he felt a little tired, so he walked ashore, took out his watch and looked at it, it was nineteen thirty-five Beijing time.
Duan Yuanxing put on his clothes while habitually tilting his head to look at the vast starry sky.
When his gaze shifted to the Swan constellation, he suddenly realized that there was an additional bright star to the northeast of the four Tianjin stars of this constellation! This constellation, which normally looks like a swan flying with its wings outstretched, has changed its entire image with the addition of this "uninvited guest". Could this be an artificial Earth satellite? He watched it for more than a minute and realized that the star had not moved, so it was not an artificial satellite. Moreover, there were no bright variable stars in that position. So could it be a new star?
The thought made him extraordinarily excited. He rushed home and observed the star with his own telescope, checking its position and determining its brightness. After careful analysis, his inference was fully confirmed: it was indeed a new star!
At this moment, Duan Yuanxing is like a mountain climber who has gone through a lot of hard work and has finally climbed up to a dangerous peak with infinite scenery, and his heart is so excited! He knows that a nova is a huge outburst of a structurally unstable star. The study of nova outbursts can inspire people to find new energy sources, and for the study of the origin and evolution of stars has great significance. For such an important and rare thing, it must be quickly reported to the national astronomical research authorities!
So he quickly took out his pen, spread out his letterhead, "swish, swish, swish" and wrote the first line: "Report on the discovery of a new star".
The night was already very late, and the rooster's ooh-ooh-crowing came from the villages on the outskirts of the city. Duan Yuanxing's two letters to the Beijing Observatory and the Nanjing Purple Mountain Observatory were written. He walked out of the house briskly and stood on the bank of the Meijiang River, letting the cool night breeze blow. He looked up at the new star, still so bright. He smiled happily. The stars in the sky twinkled as if they were also congratulating him and smiling towards him!
August 31, Duan Yuanxing came to the county post office early, put two letters to the Beijing Observatory and Nanjing Purple Mountain Observatory into the mailbox. At the same time, he shot an additional telegram to the Beijing Observatory. Comrades at the post office noticed that when he was drafting the telegram, his right hand was trembling slightly.
Yes! An ordinary intellectual youth in the countryside, insisted on sixteen years of amateur astronomical scientific research activities, and now he is going to report his achievements to the dear motherland, how can it not call Duan Yuanshing mood excited!
The Beijing Observatory received Duan's telegram that afternoon and immediately reported it to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
On the afternoon of September 1, the Chinese Academy of Sciences gave him a long-distance phone call, warmly congratulating him on his discovery of the new star!
September 2, the Xinhua News Agency broadcast the news of the Beijing Observatory's study of the nova by means of spectroscopic photographs and Duan Yuanxing's discovery of the nova by means of visual observation at home and abroad.
The news blew like a spring breeze across the north and south of the Yangtze River, inside and outside the Great Wall. An enthusiastic congratulatory letter flew to Duan Yuanxing from all over the country.
The Beijing Observatory also sent a congratulatory letter to Duan Yuanxing. The letter said:
"You have done a good job! In terms of discovering a new star by visual observation, the time of its discovery is very important. From this point of view, your discovery has won honor for the motherland!"
The relevant leading comrades of the provincial party committee, the local party committee, the county party committee and the commune party committee also came to the Dabu brigade one after another to visit Duan Yuanxing and give him care and encouragement.
Early November 1976, just one month after the "Gang of Four" was crushed, Wen Wen, the secretary of the brigade, came to see Duan Yuanxing. On this day, the secretary of the brigade Wen came to Duan Yuanxing's place and told him excitedly: "The county party committee received a notice from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, asking you to go to Beijing to participate in the National Astronomical Calendar Reform Conference, and we will leave tomorrow."
The next morning, the morning sun dyed the smiling faces of the members of the community who saw Duan Yuanxing off. Secretary Wen took Duan Yuanxing's hand and urged, "When you get to Beijing, don't forget to take a picture of Tiananmen Square and bring it back, so that we can share in your happiness in Beijing."
Duan Yuanxing nodded affectionately to Secretary Wen and the members of the society who were seeing him off, then turned around and took a big step and set off.
The golden sunlight, shining on the brocade mountains and rivers, also shines on the road Duan Yuanxing is walking ......