Related papers: Updating the Historical Sunspot Record
Hoyt & Schatten (1998) claim that Simon Marius would have observed the sun from 1617 Jun 7 to 1618 Dec 31 (Gregorian calendar) all days, except three short gaps in 1618, but would never have detected a sunspot -- based on a quotation from…
The main purpose of this study is the determination of solar minimum date of the new sunspot cycle No 24. It is provided by using of four types of mean daily data values for the period Jan 01. 2006 - Dec 31. 2009: (1) the solar radioindex…
More than 70 years ago it was recognised that ionospheric F2-layer critical frequencies $foF2$ had a strong relationship to sunspot number. Using historic datasets from the Slough and Washington ionosondes, we evaluate the best statistical…
A nine-millennia reconstruction of decadal sunspot numbers derived from 10Be and 14C terrestrial archives for 6755 BC to 1885 AD has been extended to the present using several other messengers (Observed Sunspot Number, Group Number, range…
We have reconstructed the sunspot group count, not by comparisons with other reconstructions and correcting those where they were deemed to be deficient, but by a re-assessment of original sources. The resulting series is a pure solar index…
We report progress on the ongoing recalibration of the Wolf sunspot number (SN) and Group sunspot number (GN) following the release of version 2.0 of SN in 2015. This report constitutes both an update of the efforts reported in the 2016…
We present reconstructed sunspot positions based on observations reported in letters between Gottfried Kirch and other contemporary astronomers from AD 1680 to 1709, i.e. in the last decades of the Maunder Minimum. The letters were compiled…
The focus of this study is to reveal the reason behind a scale problem detected around 1849 in the historical version of the International Sunspot Number Series, i.e. version 1 (Leussu et al, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 559, A28, 2013;…
The recent paucity of sunspots and the delay in the expected start of Solar Cycle 24 have drawn attention to the challenges involved in predicting solar activity. Traditional models of the solar cycle usually require information about the…
The Maunder Minimum corresponds to a prolonged minimum of solar activity a phenomenon that is of particular interest to many branches of natural and social sciences commonly considered to extend from 1645 until 1715. However, our knowledge…
Empirical rules of solar cycle evolution form important observational constraints for the solar dynamo theory. This includes the Waldmeier rule relating the magnitude of a solar cycle to the length of its ascending phase, and the…
Aims: Although the time of the Maunder minimum (1645--1715) is widely known as a period of extremely low solar activity, claims are still debated that solar activity during that period might still have been moderate, even higher than the…
The Maunder Minimum (MM) was a period of prolonged solar activity minimum between 1645 and 1715. Several works have identified a significant number of problematic spotless days in the MM included in existing databases. We have found a list…
Detailed models of the solar cycle require information about the starting time and rise time as well as the shape and amplitude of the cycle. However, none of these models includes a discussion of the variations in the length of the cycle,…
Digital images of the observations printed in the books "Rosa Ursina sive solis" and "Prodromus pro sole mobili" by Christoph Scheiner as well as the drawings from Scheiner's letters to Marcus Welser are analysed in order to obtain…
The solar program of the Astronomical Observatory of Madrid started in 1876. For ten solar cycles, observations were made in this institution to determine sunspot numbers and areas. The program was completed in 1986. The resulting data have…
Aims. Sunspot number is a benchmark series in many studies, but may still contain inhomogeneities and inconsistencies. In particular, an essential discrepancy exists between the two main sunspot number series, Wolf (WSN) and group (GSN)…
The extension of the sunspot number series backward in time is of considerable interest for dynamo theory, solar, stellar, and climate research. We have used records of the Be-10 concentration in polar ice to reconstruct the average sunspot…
In addition to regular Schwabe cycles (~ 11 years), solar activity also shows longer periods of enhanced or reduced activity. Of these, reconstructions of the Dalton Minimum provide controversial sunspot group numbers and limited sunspot…
The Swiss Federal Observatory, which had been founded in 1863 by Rudolf Wolf, was dissolved in connection with the retirement of Max Waldmeier in 1979. The determination of the Zurich sunpot number, which had been a cornerstone activity of…