A pair of researchers have identified the earliest description of a candidate aurora found so far in an ancient Chinese text, according to one April leaf published in the journal Advances in Space Research. The authors place the probable date of the event at either 977 or 957 BC. BC. The next earliest description of an Aurora candidate is found on Assyrian cuneiform tablets written three centuries later between 679 and 655 BC. were dated.
As we have previously reported, the spectacular kaleidoscopic effects of the so-called Northern Lights (or Southern Lights if located in the southern hemisphere) are the result of charged particles from the Sun being cast into the Earth magnetosphere, where they collide with oxygen and nitrogen molecules – an interaction that excites these molecules and causes them to glow. Auroras typically present themselves as shimmering bands across the sky with hues of green, purple, blue, and yellow.
There are several types of aurora displays, such as “diffuse” auroras (a faint glow near the horizon), rarer “picket fence” and “dune” displays, and “discrete aurora” — the most intense variety seen in the sky as shimmering, undulating curtains of light. Discreet aurora arcs can be so bright that it is possible to read a newspaper by their light. That was the case in August and September 1859, when there was a great geomagnetic storm – also known as the carrington Event, the largest ever recorded– which produced blinding auroras that were visible in the US, Europe, Japan and Australia.
That Annals of Bamboo is a chronicle of ancient China written on bamboo strips, dating back to the age of Yellow Emperor and runs through the Warring States Period (5th century – 221 BC), when rival states were engaged in intense competition. It ended when the State of Qin united the states. The original text of Annals of Bamboo was buried with King Xiang of Wei, who died in 296 BC burn books in 212 BC (not to mention the burial alive of hundreds of Confucian scholars).
The original text consisted of 13 scrolls that were lost during the Song dynasty (960–1279 AD). There are two versions of the Annals of Bamboo still there. One is known as the “current text” and consists of two scrolls printed in the late 16th century. Many scholars believe this text to be a forgery, given the many discrepancies between its text and portions of the original cited in older books, although some scholars have argued that some portions may be faithful to the original text. The other version is known as the “ancient text” and was pieced together by studying the parts cited above from older books, particularly two dating from the early 8th century AD.
Independent researchers Marinus Anthony van der Sluijs and Hisashi Hayakawa from the University of Nagoya used the ancient text for their new analysis. This text describes the appearance of a “five-colored light” visible towards the end of the reign of in the northern part of the night sky King Zhao of Zhou Dynasty. Auroras are usually only visible in polar regions because the particles follow the Earth’s magnetic field lines, which fan out from near the poles. But strong geomagnetic storms can cause aurora ovals to expand to lower latitudes, often accompanied by multicolored lights. According to the authors, in the 10th century BC, the magnetic north pole of the earth was about 15 degrees closer to central China than today, so people there may have witnessed such displays.
While this is technically an unconfirmed aurora candidate, “the explicit mention of nocturnal observation during the day precludes manifestations of atmospheric optics that sometimes mimic candidate events,” the authors wrote. In addition, “the appearance of a multicolored phenomenon in the northern sky during the night is consistent with visual auroral displays in mid-latitude regions.” According to van der Sluijs and Hayakawa, the current 16th-century textual translation of the passage in question described the event as a “comet” rather than a “five-colored light,” which is why the candidate aurora has not been identified until now.
DOI: Advances in Space Exploration, 2022. 10.1016/j.asr.2022.01.010 (About DOIs).
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