GabyIndependent researcher Marinus Anthony van der Sluys (Canada) and Hisashi Hayakawa from Nagoya University (Japan) have deciphered an ancient document that likely describes the aurora borealis.
According to the authors of the study, the text refers to an event from 977 or 957 BC. It was found in the so-called Bamboo Annals: a chronicle of ancient China preserved on bamboo strips.
It was previously believed that the oldest description of the aurora borealis was found in Assyrian cuneiform tablets from 679-655 BC.
What scientists have learned
The amazing kaleidoscopic effect of the so-called northern lights is the result of charged particles from the Sun being ejected into the Earth’s magnetosphere, where they collide with oxygen and nitrogen molecules. This interaction excites these molecules and causes them to glow. Flickering, multicolored ribbons appear in the sky.
A Canadian-Japanese scientific team has deciphered the oldest text describing the appearance of “five-colored light.” Researchers learned that the phenomenon was observed in the northern part of the night sky at the end of King Zhao’s reign of the Zhou dynasty. How was this possible in ancient China? According to the researchers, in the 10th century BC, the Earth’s northern magnetic pole was approximately 15 degrees closer to central China than it is today. Therefore, people could very well have witnessed such a phenomenon, the publication reported. Ars Technica .
It is technically impossible to confirm that the bamboo strips contain information specifically about the aurora borealis. However, the authors of the study state that the then “appearance of a colorful phenomenon in the northern sky at night corresponds with the visual manifestations of the northern lights in mid-latitude regions.” According to the scientists, in the translation of the text in the 16th century, this event is referred to as a “comet,” rather than as “five-colored light.” Thus, this phenomenon has not been considered as the aurora borealis until now. And now, scientists have likely corrected this mistake made by their colleagues in the past.
