Astronomical Diaries: a dated record of the Babylonian sky
Babylonian scribes left dated observations of the sky. Tablet BM 32312 helps separate a recorded event from a later explanation of it.
What the astronomy diaries recorded
A 2016 article in Earth, Planets and Space uses the Astronomical Diaries, a corpus of Babylonian observational tablets held by the British Museum, to identify the earliest datable records of aurora-like phenomena. It discusses the diary tablet BM 32312 in a context of 652 to 651 BCE. Earth, Planets and Space / Springer Nature ↗
Regular observation
The research record describes the diary entries as regular observation: dated notes of the sky and of events on the ground. That regularity is what makes the corpus valuable for chronology. A dated sky entry can be checked against calculation.
Observation or later explanation?
Keep the observation separate from its interpretation. The record models the date and the astronomical note as one thing, and any omen reading or modern identification, such as an aurora, as another claim with its own argument.
Was the recorded event an aurora?
If a modern study identifies an ancient entry as an aurora, what would make you confident: the wording, the date, the geomagnetic context, or all three? Which is weakest?