Earliest Documented Aurora Found In Ancient Chinese Text

According to a recent analysis of an old Chinese manuscript, the first reported example of an aurora, the transient but vividly colored lights that sometimes dazzle the night sky, goes back to the early 10th century B.C. 

The literature recounts a “five-colored light” that was seen in the northern section of the night sky towards the conclusion of the reign of Ruler Zho, the fourth king of the Chinese Zhou dynasty, near the end of his reign. The text was written in Chinese.

It’s unclear when Zho’s rule began and ended, but the analysis suggests that the “five-colored light” event took place either 977 B.C. or 957 B.C., depending on which date you believe is correct. 

The Bamboo Annals (Zhshi Jnián in Mandarin), a fourth-century B.C. literature written on bamboo slips that recounted legends and early Chinese history, had this brightly colored detail, which was uncovered by the researchers.

Researchers have known about the Bamboo Annals for some time, but only recently did they realise that it contained information about what may have been the world’s first recorded aurora, according to study corresponding author Hisashi Hayakawa, an assistant professor at Nagoya University’s Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research and a visiting scientist at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the United Kingdom, in a statement to Live Science. 

According to Hayakawa and study co-researcher Marinus Anthony van der Sluijs, an independent researcher located in Canada, the newly studied “five-colored light” description is most likely a reference to a geomagnetic storm, according to the study findings.

According to NASA, geomagnetic storms occur when the sun, which is described as a “breathing ball of gas,” ejects solar flares, which are enormous bursts of electrified gas that move across space at very high speeds. 

Even while the magnetosphere normally shields the earth from solar radiation’s powerful charged particles, sometimes these particles get through and generate magnetic disruptions, known as geomagnetic storms, on the planet.

According to NASA, such storms may generate stunning lighting effects, with oxygen emitting green and red light and nitrogen emitting blue and purple light. 

In modern times, the northern lights, also known as the aurora borealis, may be seen in northern latitudes, and the southern lights, also known as the aurora australis, can be seen at southern latitudes. Earth’s north magnetic pole was tilted toward the Eurasian continents around the mid-10th century B.C., bringing it about 15 degrees closer to central China than it is now.

Because of this, ancient inhabitants in central China — potentially as far south as 40 degrees latitude, or just north of Beijing — may have been able to see geomagnetic storms and the bright lights they created, according to researchers. 

Researchers believe that when mid-latitude auroras are intense enough, they are capable of displaying several hues, which might explain why the celestial occurrence was referred to as “five-colored light,” as the researchers speculate.

A vivid auroral show was recorded in the United Kingdom in October 1847, according to Hayakawa, who spoke to Live Science about the phenomenon.

In a report from the area around Cambridge in England, “a crown appeared to be formed near the magnetic zenith, from which all the rays appeared to diverge; their colors were most splendid and of peculiar transparency, especially the red and green, the former being quite like carmine and the latter that of the pale emerald; the central part of this canopy, or that near the magnetic North, was of a very yellow colour, with one streamer looking almost like gold.” 

One of the Bamboo Annals’ translated fragments. 

Hayakawa referred to this potentially world-record-setting occurrence as a “candidate aurora,” indicating that the team does not yet have enough information to establish the presence of an aurora.

Research published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters in 2019 by Hayakawa and colleagues found that the earliest potential auroras were recorded etched by Assyrian astronomers on clay tablets that date back to between 679 BCE and 655 BCE, according to the findings of the study. 

Hayakawa said that the recent discovery took so long to be identified because of a number of factors. This text was lost for centuries before being found in the third century A.D. and then lost again during the Song dynasty (960-1279). (A.D. 960 to 1276).

The term “comet” was used in a translation during the 16th century, rather than the phrase “five-colored light.” According to the researchers, the new study “sets the record straight.” 

The researchers said that documenting potential auroras is beneficial because it may enable scientists in modelling long-term trends of space weather and solar activity.  

The findings of the research were published online on January 17 in the journal Advances in Space Research, according to the publication. 

Published By: Sachin Sonawane