According to a report published in the journal Advances in Space Research, researchers have identified the oldest known record of a candidate aurora in ancient Chinese texts. The auroral event may have occurred in 977 or 957 BC. The earliest record of candidate aurora prior to this was found on Assyrian cuneiform tablets, dating from 679-655 BC, three hundred years apart. The ancient book used by the researchers is called “Bamboo Book Chronicles”, which is part of the “Jizhong Book” bamboo slips unearthed from the ancient tomb in Jijun during the Western Jin Dynasty. It has been recorded from the Yellow Emperor to the Warring States Period. End. It was buried in the tomb of King Wei Xiang who died in 296 BC, and was stolen and excavated in 279 AD, so it was saved from Qin Shihuang’s burning of books and burying Confucianism. According to the records in the book, at the end of King Zhou Zhao, five colors of light appeared in the northern night sky. Auroras are usually only visible in the polar regions, and the researchers say that in the 10th century BC, when the North Magnetic Pole was about 15 degrees closer to central China than it is today, people there could see them too.
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