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We rarely have time to write about all the cool science stories that come our way. Also, do a special 12 Days of Christmas series post. Today: A new analysis of an ancient Chinese text reveals the oldest candidate Aurora discovered, predating the next oldest Aurora by three centuries.
According to an April paper published in Advances in Space Research, two researchers identified the earliest description of aurora candidates found in ancient Chinese texts. The authors fix the likely date of the event to 977 or 957 BC. The next earliest description of a candidate aurora is found three centuries later on an Assyrian cuneiform tablet from 679-655 BC.
As we have previously reported, the spectacular kaleidoscopic effect of the so-called auroras (or Southern lights, if in the southern hemisphere) is the result of charged particles from the Sun being ejected into the Earth’s magnetosphere and colliding there. Oxygen and nitrogen molecules – interactions that excite these molecules to make them glow. Auroras are usually shades of green, purple, blue and yellow and appear as shimmering ribbons in the sky.
There are many different types of aurora displays. For example, “diffuse” aurora (a faint light near the horizon), the more rare “picket fence” or “dune” displays, and the “discrete aurora arc” (the most intense kind). The sky is like a curtain of wavering, undulating light. Discrete Aurora arcs are so bright that you can read a newspaper with their light. In 1859 he had a massive geomagnetic storm (the largest Carrington event ever recorded) in August and September, causing visible and blinding auroras over the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia. Did.
of Take no Jitsuroku This chronicle of ancient China was written on bamboo strips from the time of the Yellow Emperor to the so-called Warring States period (5th century B.C.-221 B.C.), during which fierce competition unfolded. It ended when Qin unified the country.The original text of Take no Jitsuroku He was buried with King Xiang of Wei, who died in 296 BC, and was not found until 281 BC, so it survived after Qin Shi Huang had his books burned in 212 BC (hundreds of Confucian scholars buried alive needless to say).
MA van der Sluijs & H. Hayakawa, 2022
The original text consisted of 13 scrolls lost during the Song Dynasty (960–1279 CE). There are two versions of him. Take no Jitsuroku still exists. One, known as the “Modern Text”, consists of two of his scrolls printed in the late 16th century. Many scholars believe the text to be a forgery, as there are many discrepancies between it and the original parts quoted in older books, but some parts are faithful to the original. Some scholars argue that it may be Other versions are known as “Ancient Texts” and were pieced together by studying the aforementioned quoted passages found in older books, particularly two of his books dating to the early 8th century AD.
Independent researchers Marinus Anthony van der Sluis and Hisashi Hayakawa of Nagoya University relied on ancient texts for their new analysis. ” is described. Auroras tend to be visible only in polar regions because particles follow the Earth’s magnetic field lines that spread from near the poles. However, strong geomagnetic storms can cause the auroral ellipse to expand to lower latitudes, often accompanied by multicolored lights. According to the authors, during the 10th century BC, the Earth’s magnetic N Pole was about 15 degrees closer to central China than it is today, so people there may have witnessed such a display.
Although this is technically an unconfirmed candidate aurora, “explicit mention of nighttime observations allows us to rule out daytime manifestations of atmospheric optics that may mimic candidate events.” The author writes Furthermore, “the occurrence of polychromatic phenomena in the nighttime northern sky is consistent with visual auroral displays in mid-latitude regions.” According to van der Sluijs and Hayakawa, the relevant Translations of the passage describe the event as a “comet” rather than a “five-colored light”, which is why no aurora candidates have been identified to date. .
DOI: Advances in Space Research, 2022. 10.1016/j.asr.2022.01.010 (About DOI).
