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Related papers: Updating the Historical Sunspot Record

200 papers

In this work, we present an extensive review and detailed analysis of sunspot measurements, drawings, and engravings made by John Flamsteed and, mainly, by Philippe de La Hire during the Maunder minimum. All available information and…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2025-10-14 Nadezhda Zolotova , Mikhail Vokhmyanin

The solar activity during the Maunder Minimum (MM; 1645 -- 1715) has been considered significantly different from the one captured in modern observations, in terms of sunspot group number and sunspot positions, whereas its actual amplitudes…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2020-10-01 Hisashi Hayakawa , Tomoya Iju , Shoma Uneme , Bruno P. Besser , Shunsuke Kosaka , Shinsuke Imada

On a centennial timescale, solar activity was quantified based on records of instrumental sunspot observations. This article briefly discusses several aspects of the recent archival investigations of historical sunspot records in the 17th…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2025-02-21 Hisashi Hayakawa

In 2015 the calculation of the International (Zurich) sunspot number was cancelled, and it was replaced by a new "recalibrated" series. A new data series was proposed also for the Group sunspot number. As a result, these two series which…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2017-01-24 Katya Georgieva , Ali Kilcik , Yury Nagovitsyn , Boian Kirov

The solar cycle periodically reshapes the magnetic structure and radiative output of the Sun and determines its impact on the heliosphere roughly every 11 years. Besides this main periodicity, it shows century-long variations (including…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2022-03-23 A. Munoz-Jaramillo , J. M. Vaquero

Sunspots are areas of strong magnetic fields driven by a convective dynamo. Rudolf Wolf devised his Sunspot Number (SN) series to describe its variation with time. Most other solar phenomena vary in concert with SN, in particular the…

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics · Physics 2025-05-15 Leif Svalgaard

Sunspot engravings made in the Maunder minimum are used to evaluate the fine structure of sunspots. Based on 78 images of the full solar disk and 77 images of individual sunspots, we have evaluated the ratio of penumbral-to-umbral area…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2025-06-24 Nadezhda Zolotova , Mikhail Vokhmyanin

Although the sunspot-number series have existed since the mid-19th century, they are still the subject of intense debate, with the largest uncertainty being related to the "calibration" of the visual acuity of individual observers in the…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2016-02-03 I. G. Usoskin , G. A. Kovaltsov , M. Lockwood , K. Mursula , M. Owens , S. K. Solanki

A new normalized sunspot-area series has been reconstructed from the series obtained by the Royal Greenwich Observatory and other contemporary institutions for the period 1874 - 2008 and the area series compiled by De la Rue, Stewart, and…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2016-07-20 V. M. S. Carrasco , J. M. Vaquero , M. C. Gallego , F. Sánchez-Bajo

The correct interpretation of a fragment of Rheita about a sunspot observation in 1642 has crucial importance in estimating the amplitude of the solar cycle just before the Maunder Minimum. We show here that this record has been…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2015-02-25 Juan Manuel Gómez , José Manuel Vaquero

Daily records of sunspot group areas compiled by the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, from May of 1874 through 1976 indicate a curious history for the penumbral areas of the smaller sunspot groups. On average, the ratio of penumbral area to…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2013-05-21 D. H. Hathaway

The Maunder Minimum (MM) was a prolonged period of low solar activity that occurred between 1645 and 1715. The true level of solar activity corresponding to this epoch is still a matter of debate. In order to compare solar activity during…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2018-10-10 V. M. S. Carrasco , J. M. García-Romero , J. M. Vaquero , P. G. Rodríguez , P. Foukal , M. C. Gallego , L. Lefèvre

The sunspot groups have been observed since 1610 and their numbers have been used for evaluating the amplitude of solar activity. Daniel M\"ogling recorded his sunspot observations for more than 100 days in 1626 - 1629 and formed a…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2021-02-09 Hisashi Hayakawa , Tomoya Iju , Koji Murata , Bruno P. Besser

A long time-series of sunspot observations is preserved from Samuel Heinrich Schwabe who made notes and drawings of sunspots from 1825-1867. Schwabe's observing records are preserved in the manuscript archives of the Royal Astronomical…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2015-05-30 R. Arlt

Some studies have shown that our knowledge on solar activity in the years 1640, 1652, and 1741 can be improved. In this contribution, we revise the annual group sunspot numbers for these years from original observations. For the years 1640,…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-16 J. M. Vaquero , R. M. Trigo

We present a reconstruction of total solar irradiance since 1610 to the present based on variations of the surface distribution of the solar magnetic field. The latter is calculated from the historical record of the Group sunspot number…

Astrophysics · Physics 2008-11-26 L. Balmaceda , N. A. Krivova , S. K. Solanki

Sunspot number series are composed from observations of hundreds of different observers that requires careful normalization of the observers to the standard conditions. Here we present a new normalized series of the number of sunspot groups…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2017-05-16 Teemu Willamo , Ilya G. Usoskin , Gennady A. Kovaltsov

We have examined the more than 1100 drawings of the solar disk made by the German astronomy amateur Johann Caspar Staudach during 1749-1799 and counted the spots on each image. Using the modern perception of how to group spots into active…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2015-11-06 Leif Svalgaard

We use 5 test data series to quantify putative discontinuities around 1946 in 5 annual-mean sunspot number or group number sequences. The series tested are: the original and new versions of the Wolf/Zurich/International sunspot number…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2016-10-05 Mike Lockwood , Mathew J. Owens , Luke A. Barnard

The Maunder Minimum was the period between 1645 and 1715 whose main characteristic was abnormally low and prolonged solar activity. However, some authors have doubted this low level of solar activity during that period by questioning the…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2018-03-28 V. M. S. Carrasco , J. M. Vaquero , M. C. Gallego