Scientists report that they may have found the earliest written track record of a solar violent storm in ancient Assyrian tablets .
Recent analysis have found evidence of an extreme solar violent storm that left energetic particles intree ringsandice coresacross the humankind sometime around 660 BCE . With this in intellect , a inquiry squad in Japan and the United Kingdom wondered if they ’d be able-bodied to find evidence of this storm in ancient astrological records — and they may have find something in Assyrian tablets .
Back in the nineteenth century , archaeologist uncovered grand of pill date back to the Assyrian imperium in Mesopotamia , which documented treaties , stories , let in the now - famous epic poem of Gilgamesh , and astrological write up . These reports include observations of the planets , phenomenon like comet and meteorites , and of course , predictions of presage . The researchers ( today ’s researcher ) scan through a collecting of theseastrological reportsin hunting of auroral - type upshot , which they limit as “ reddish lambent phenomena in the sky ” and are triggered by the Sun ’s particles interacting with the standard atmosphere . Many of the reports were n’t dated , but the research worker could at least make escort ranges based on the astrologist who wrote the report .
The aurora in Alberta, Canada.Photo: Keith E. Doucet (Wikimedia Commons)
https://gizmodo.com/traces-of-giant-2-700-year-old-solar-storm-detected-in-1833205336
They ground three reports that seemed to bring up aurorean phenomena : one describe a “ red glow , ” another a “ crimson swarm , ” and a third reporting that “ red cover[ed ] the sky , ” according tothe paperpublished in The Astrophysical Journal Letters . The record correlate with date ranges of 679 BCE to 655 BCE , 677 BCE to 666 BCE , and 679 BCE to 670 BCE , severally . Assyria might seem too far south to view the dawning , being at just about the same parallel of latitude as North Carolina , but retiring inquiry show that the North magnetic terminal was much closer to the Middle East in the seventh C BCE ( and especially strong solar storms can cause the sunrise to move south ) .
These records seem to correspond to tree diagram ring data point and ice core datum showing spry increases in radioactive element associate with solar activity during this time . apparently they ’re just correlations — but perhaps these tablets are the earliest - yet records of intense auroral natural process .
The ice core and tree band data point suggest that the 660 BCE violent storm would have been quite potent . A blow of particle following a solar flare could have even punched a hole in the ozone bed . It ’s one of the strongest candidate solar proton events on platter , alongside similar - attend events from 775 CE and a weaker case around 993 CE .
One author not involved in the subject area thought that it presented convincing evidence that the Assyrian tablet were recording important events . “ It is always very exciting as a scientist to see that mass who lived millennia ago watch and recorded event we pick up in our paleoclimate records , ” Nicole Davi , professor in environmental skill at William Paterson University , told Gizmodo in an email . “ Multiple lines of grounds that let in both diachronic human observation of solar effect or climate extremum , if available , are always ideal . ”
scientist hope to well understand and eventually be capable to predict these tempest , since they ’d wreak havoc on our electric base . And if you ’re an ancient Assyrian , surely a red cloud would be a bad , bad omen .
Astronomyaurora borealisSciencesolar storms
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