Abstract
Abstract. While graphical records of astronomical/meteorological events before
telescopic observations are of particular interest, they have frequently
undergone multiple instances of copying and may have been modified from the original.
Here, we analyse a graphical record of the cross sign of 806 CE in the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (ASC), which has been considered one of the earliest datable
halo drawings in British records, whereas another cross sign in 776 CE has
been associated with the aurora. However, philological studies have revealed
the later 806 event is derived from continental European annals. Here, records and
drawings for the 806 event have been philologically traced back to mid-ninth-century continental European manuscripts (MSS) and the probable observational site
identified as the area of Sens in northern France. The possible lunar halos
at that time have been comprehensively examined by numerical ray tracing.
Combined with calculations of twilight sky brightness, they identify a
visibility window supporting monastic observation. Cruciform halos are shown
to be fainter and rarer than brighter and more commonplace lunar halos.
Physically credible cloud ice crystal variations can reproduce all the
manuscript renditions. The manuscript records prove less-than-desirable
detail, but what is presented is fully consistent with a lunar-halo
interpretation. Finally, the possible societal impacts of such celestial
events have been mentioned in the context of contemporary coins in
Anglo-Saxon England and the Carolingian Empire. These analyses show that we
need to trace their provenance back as far as possible, to best reconstruct
the original event, even if graphical records are available for given
astronomical/meteorological events.
Subject
History and Philosophy of Science,General Earth and Planetary Sciences
Cited by
4 articles.
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