partially mythical , partly factual , theNihon shokiis the sure-enough prescribed history of Japan , chronicling the land ’s origin and subsequent evolution up to the end of the seventh 100 CE . In it can be found a verbal description of a highly strange astronomic case that scientists have been ineffectual to excuse , although a team of research worker now say they finally know what caused this grotesque phenomenon .
The funny spectacle is said to have manifested on December 30 , 620 CE , when “ a red sign appeared in heaven . The distance was more than 1jo(10 level ) . The configuration was alike to a pheasant rump . ” People diverted their gaze skywards in unbelief . " Is it a birdie … ? " they asked . by nature , historians and astronomers have always assumed that this celestial quirk was probably due to either an morning or a comet , though neither of these explanation is peculiarly convincing .
For one affair , theaurora borealis – often referred to as the northern luminousness – do n’t tend to look like pheasant ’ arse , and are instead fairly streaked in appearing . Comets , meanwhile , are not known to make red luminosity shows in the sky .
compose in theSokendai Review of Cultural and Social Studies , the study generator disclose how they look the historical chronological record to observe more late verbal description of auroras over Japan , and found that some of these were said to have had a similar appearance . While the northerly lights are n’t typically examine as far in the south as Japan , the research worker take note that the aerial spectacle may have been more common in 620 CE , as the Earth ’s north perch was in a different localization then , meaning Japan would have been closer to magnetic northward than it is today .
ground ’s magnetised poles are in fact continually shiftingas the planet ’s churning Fe extinct Congress of Racial Equality make fluctuation in the north - south magnetic field . Every now and then , amagnetic field reversaloccurs , whereby the north and south poles actually switch positions .
Auroras are stimulate by charge speck from the Sun smashing into Earth ’s atmosphere . As these particles interact with unlike element they produce unlike colors of light – with red being one possibility . Normally this dazzling show is only seeable in the Arctic and Antarctic roach , which are located around 66.5 degrees north and south of the equator , although auroras are occasionally seen in non - diametrical realm .
give the low possibility of a comet passing over Japan in December 620 , and the even lower hypothesis that this could have given off a ruby-red light , the study author reason that the strange red pheasant tail was most in all probability have by an aurora after all .
“ late findings have shew that auroras can be ' pheasant stern ' shaped specifically during great magnetised storms , " said study author Ryuho Kataoka in astatement . “ This means that the 620 A.D. phenomenon was likely an aurora . ”
