Research groups at the University of Tsukuba, Osaka University, Kyoto University, and Nagoya University analyzed ancient Assyrian astrology reports and found a record of what appears to be an aurora around 660 BC.It is about 100 years older than the oldest aurora record ever confirmed.
According to the University of Tsukuba, the research groups are Assistant Professor Yasuyuki Mitsuma of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Takashi Hayakawa, Associate Professor of the Graduate School of Letters, Osaka University, Yusuke Ebihara, Associate Professor of the Institute of Survival Area, Kyoto University, and Institute of Space and Global Environment, Nagoya University. Miyake Fusha and others.
From the 8th century BC to the 7th century BC, the research group analyzed an akkadian report written in Akkadian on a clay tablet in Assyria, which is now northern Iraq, and confirmed three descriptions that seemed to have recorded the aurora.
The clay tablets are in the British Museum, and these three records are estimated to date from 3 to 680 BC.The oldest known aurora records are the Babylonian Astronomical Diary in 650 BC, both about 567 years older.
Surveys of tree rings and the Greenland ice core reveal that one of the largest SEP events in history was occurring at the time. The SEP event is a phenomenon in which an increase in solar high-energy particles is observed due to solar flares and coronal mass ejections, but no records such as aurora confirmation in low latitudes supporting high solar activity have been found.
Paper information:[The Astrophysical Journal Letters] The Earliest Candidates of Auroral Observations in Assyrian Astrophysical Reports: Insights on SolarActivity around 660 BCE
