Moon's Mysterious Disappearance 900 Years Ago Finally Gets An Explanation (livescience.com) 27
A reader shares a report from Live Science: There's no use sugar coating it: According to one scribe in medieval England, A.D. 1110 was a "disastrous year." Torrential rainfall damaged crops, famine stalked the land -- and, as if that wasn't bad enough, on one fateful night in May, the moon simply vanished from the sky. "On the fifth night in the month of May appeared the moon shining bright in the evening, and afterwards by little and little its light diminished," the unnamed scribe wrote in the Anglo-Saxon manuscript known as the Peterborough Chronicle. "As soon as night came, it was so completely extinguished withal, that neither light, nor orb, nor anything at all of it was seen. And so it continued nearly until day, and then appeared shining full and bright."
So, what made the moon disappear in an already dismal year? According to a study published April 21 in the journal Scientific Reports, the explanation for both the moon's mysterious vanishing act and the rain-ravaged summer that followed may be one and the same -- volcanoes. "The spectacular atmospheric optical phenomena associated with high-altitude volcanic aerosols have caught the attention of chroniclers since ancient times," the study authors wrote. "Careful evaluation of ice core records points to the occurrence of several closely spaced volcanic eruptions," which may have occurred in Europe or Asia between A.D. 1108 and A.D. 1110.
Those volcanic events, which the researchers call a "forgotten cluster" of eruptions because they were sparsely documented by historians at the time, may have released towering clouds of ash that traveled far around the world for years on end. Not only could a high-altitude veil of volcanic aerosols blot out the moon while leaving many stars unobscured, as the Peterborough writer described, but a series of large eruptions could have also disrupted the global climate, the researcher wrote, causing or exacerbated the cold, wet weather that made life so miserable in A.D. 1110. One such eruption, which occurred in Japan in A.D. 1108, could be to blame, the team said.
So, what made the moon disappear in an already dismal year? According to a study published April 21 in the journal Scientific Reports, the explanation for both the moon's mysterious vanishing act and the rain-ravaged summer that followed may be one and the same -- volcanoes. "The spectacular atmospheric optical phenomena associated with high-altitude volcanic aerosols have caught the attention of chroniclers since ancient times," the study authors wrote. "Careful evaluation of ice core records points to the occurrence of several closely spaced volcanic eruptions," which may have occurred in Europe or Asia between A.D. 1108 and A.D. 1110.
Those volcanic events, which the researchers call a "forgotten cluster" of eruptions because they were sparsely documented by historians at the time, may have released towering clouds of ash that traveled far around the world for years on end. Not only could a high-altitude veil of volcanic aerosols blot out the moon while leaving many stars unobscured, as the Peterborough writer described, but a series of large eruptions could have also disrupted the global climate, the researcher wrote, causing or exacerbated the cold, wet weather that made life so miserable in A.D. 1110. One such eruption, which occurred in Japan in A.D. 1108, could be to blame, the team said.
Vacation (Score:3)
Even the moon deserves a vacation every now and then from its super boring job.
Re: Vacation (Score:1)
So, what made the moon disappear in an already dismal year?
A whole slew of comments so far and it's clear that not single soul's read A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.Ignorant cretins, the fucking lot of you.
Signed,
-A Connecticut Yankee (4th thru 12th grade at least) in the land of the fucking dumb
Does not add up (Score:4, Interesting)
An eruption of a Japanese volcano on the other side of the globe which actually left most of Japan alive just does not cut it.
1. The scale is wrong.
2. There are regular eruptions of the same size or bigger as Mt Asama 1108 on Kamchatka and Alaska and we do not end up with worldwide temperature dips as a result.
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Seriously, what likely happened was that people got excited, aroused, and frightened then religious hysteria got taken over. Many people probably were executed for being witches and heretics, accused of causing the event directly, or incurring "God's wrath".
This would be very prevalent in rural areas where the population would be near 100% illiterate and maybe more superstitious than their urban counterparts. Even if there were no incidents recorded, there is no doubt in my mind that they happened.
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"religious hysteria got taken over."
Ouch... should be "religious hysteria took over"
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indeed, the short duration seems to suggest that more than anything, besides it's hard to imagine a high atmospheric cloud that dense moving so quickly. however their measurements do seem to corroborate those emissions so possibly a compound effect.
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The most plausible explanation is that the scribe was being overly dramatic and made up the "disappearance".
Re:Does not add up (Score:5, Informative)
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Did you RTFA?
Does anybody?
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granted, just skimmed, must have skipped that part. however from the post:
"On the fifth night in the month of May appeared the moon shining bright in the evening, and afterwards by little and little its light diminished,"
clearly depicts a 1 night event.
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The description is consistent with an eclipse by a large asteroid near miss. Perhaps an astronomer would like to comment?
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The problem are reports that "moon was gone for months".
900 years ago, maybe the Moon was following a bizarre orbit, and an eclipse could last as long as a month.
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1) The moon's orbit has been extremely predictable for millennia, numerous cultures going back to the dawn of our species used the lunar cycle. The cycles they used are essentially the same as what we see today. (there are tiny differences due to the moon slowly moving outward, but they take atomic clock level precision mathematics to detect. There's been no human detectable change) It is safe to assume that the orbit is and always has been extremely stable in
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I am wondering if it could have been 'dark matter' or some other anomaly that science to this day has yet to explain.
Spacial/temporal anomalies could even explain some of the supposed ghost sightings people claimed to have seen over the course of history*
*One that stands out in my mind is a high school that was built on a former railroad right of way. Students would would hear trains roaring through the hallway which just happened to follow where the tracks used to be. If there is any truth to this
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Did you RTFA? based on astro- nomical retrocalculation) notes that seven total lunar eclipses were observable in Europe between 1100 and 1120 CE, namely on 17 September 1103, 11 January 1107, 6 July 1107, 5 May 1110, 8 August 1114, 16 June 1117 and 10 December 1117 CE. Our survey recovered 17 original historical reports that credibly pertain to these eclipses. The problem are reports that "moon was gone for months".
RTFA? Blasphemy! I only pointed out the lunar eclipse because it wasn't mentioned in the summary.
Re: Does not add up (Score:5, Interesting)
TFA introduction is so much clearer than the /. summary, and about the same length. Their argument is that in this case it was a lunar eclipse that was further obscured by high altitude volcanic dust. Other "dark" lunar eclipses have been attributed to volcanic dust (including Krakatau), so this one should get added to that list (they claim). This would allow other stars to still be visible while the eclipse to be especially dark.
Re: Does not add up (Score:2)
Missing Info: Eclipse as Well (Score:3)
This would have much le
Lunar Eclipse (Score:5, Informative)
There was a lunar eclipse on May 5th A.D. 1110 visible from England, lasting for over an hour just before midnight.
See links.
https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEcat5/LE1101-1200.html
https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/5MCLEmap/1101-1200/LE1110-05-05T.gif
I wonder if it setback the advancements of science (Score:5, Interesting)
Being right smack in the middle of the Dark Ages. Creating a massive outlier event. Probably tossed the equivalent of scientific research back.
Being that heavenly objects are predictable in their movement, this gave Astrologers their job. While today we see Astrology as fake science to explain magic. It was a practical profession at the time. As they would study the predictable motions of the stars, the moon and planet. To create an accurate calendar, and let people know when it is good to start growing and harvesting crops. Because without such record keeping. People will just follow their gut, and if February had a warm spell, then they may plant crops too early. or if Spring is cool, they may plant their crops too late. Only later the Astrologers started to see if they can find more patterns to predict the peoples futures in more details (which it is used mostly today)
However having predictable data happen to not show up, Like the moon not appearing. That seems more like Magic, than a natural event. Which probably pushed the idea of Magic into Astrology vs the more Scientific approach.
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That seems more like Magic, than a natural event. Which probably pushed the idea of Magic into Astrology vs the more Scientific approach.
Currently, the common bar for something being directed by non-physical forces, is that at no point in its causal chain can it have any effect on anything physical.
Therefore, there could be nothing supernatural simply by chosen definition. The objectivity of this definition, as well as the the theoretical limits to the "spooky" behavior of QM (particularly if manipulable), I leave as an exercise for the reader.