Posted on 04/06/2020 1:53:44 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Nearly a millennium and a half ago, red light streaked across the night sky over Japan. Witnesses compared it to the tail of a pheasant -- it appeared as a fan of beautiful red feathers stretched across the sky. Since the event, scientists have studied the witness accounts written in the year 620 A.D. and speculated about what the cosmic phenomenon could have actually been. Now, researchers from The Graduate University for Advanced Studies may have found the answer...
"It is the oldest Japanese astronomical record of a 'red sign,'" said Ryuho Kataoka, a researcher with the Department of Polar Science in the School of Multidisciplinary Sciences at The Graduate University for Advanced Studies and the National Institute of Polar Research. "It could be a red aurora produced during magnetic storms. However, convincing reasons have not been provided, although the description has been very famous among Japanese people for a long time."
The problem with the aurora hypothesis, according to Kataoka, is that auroras do not look like pheasant tails. Instead, they are ribbon-esque, waving across the sky. It could have been a comet, some researchers speculated, but comets do not often appear red.
To better understand the phenomenon, Kataoka and his team adjusted their view -- literally. The magnetic latitude of Japan was 33 degrees in 620, compared to 25 degrees today. The pheasant tail appeared to be about 10 degrees long, placing it well within the area that would be affected by a strong magnetic storm.
"Recent findings have shown that auroras can be 'pheasant tail' shaped specifically during great magnetic storms," Kataoka said. "This means that the 620 A.D. phenomenon was likely an aurora."
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
Nothing to do with Covid-19! Yay!
Whew. Glad that’s been solved. Now I can sleep at night.
a few small keywords, sorted chrono, with duplicates out:
Mmmm.
Pheasant.
Among the tidbits: the note that Japan is 8 degrees closer to magnetic north today than it was in 620.
https://maps.ngdc.noaa.gov/viewers/historical_declination/
Move the slider at the bottom of the map. Look how far it moved from 1900 to 2020 in small steps.
Buttttt... it seems to be moving further “north” which is the opposite of the statement concerning Japan that is 8 degrees “closer” to the magnetic north - which would imply the magnetic north is moving “south”, but it isn’t. What am I missing. Are they saying Japan - the land - slid 8 degrees north???
Just on the topic. Does anyone here have a recommendation for a Japanese equivalent of Mark Twain, or Anton Chekhov? I’m especially looking for things in the short story genre.
Does anyone know? Is there even a comparable author from their culture.
D—n Russians! They’ve figured out how to move the north pole to Siberia!
Magnetic north is well south of polar north, and it has been moving east around a quarter mile a year for a long time. That is why Japan has “moved” closer to magnetic north: The pole is the thing that is moving
1. It looks like the pole is moving west (away from North America and towards Asia), not east.
2. But “latitude” is North/South, not east west; and the comment in the article said in 620 Japan was at 33 degrees magnetic latitude and is now at 25 degrees magnetic latitude - that is 8 degrees closer to magnetic north - but at least going back to 1590, in the link you gave us, I see no such movement of Japan closer to magnetic north, or magnetic north moving closer to Japan in latitude; though it appears to be moving closer to Japan in magnetic longitude.
3. Either there has been much greater LATITUDINAL change in the magnetic field from 610 to today that explains the change mentioned in the article, or there must be some other explanation. The chart from NASA does not explain the change mentioned in the article.
The higher the degrees north (or south) the closer your are to the pole. Zero is the equator. You’re backwards in thinking 25 degrees is closer to magnetic north than 33. It’s the other way around. Magnetic latitude and geographic latitude work the same way except geographic north doesn’t move and magnetic north does.
“The higher the degrees north (or south) the closer your are to the pole. Zero is the equator. You’re backwards in thinking 25 degrees is closer to magnetic north than 33”
Moments my alzheimers takes over. LOL Mea culpa.
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