76 research outputs found
A review of East Asian reports of aurorae and comets circa AD 775
Given that a strong 14C variation in AD 775 has recently been suggested to be
due to the largest solar flare ever recorded in history, it is relevant to
investigate whether celestial events observed around that time may have been
aurorae, possibly even very strong aurorae, or otherwise related to the 14C
variation (e.g. a suggested comet impact with Earth's atmosphere). We
critically review several celestial observations from AD 757 to the end of the
770s, most of which were previously considered to be true, and in some cases,
strong aurorae; we discuss in detail the East Asian records and their wording.
We conclude that probably none among the events after AD 770 was actually an
aurora, including the event in AD 776 Jan, which was misdated for AD 774 or
775; the observed white qi phenomenon that happened "above the moon" in the
south-east was most probably a halo effect near the full moon - too late in any
case to be related to the 14C variation in AD 774/5. There is another report of
a similar (or identical) white qi phenomenon "above the moon", reported just
before a comet observation and dated to AD 776 Jan; the reported comet observed
by the Chinese was misdated to AD 776, but actually sighted in AD 767. Our
critical review of East Asian reports of aurorae circa AD 775 shows some very
likely true Chinese auroral displays observed and reported for AD 762; there
were also several events prior to AD 771 that may have been aurorae but are
questionable.Comment: 15 pages with 4 figure
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