Related papers: On times and shadows: the observational analemma
The use of the observed positions of celestial bodies to determine the location of a navigator and to direct vessels, was an aspiration of ancient seafarers. Various peoples, in the Mediterranean as much as in the Indian Ocean, in China as…
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…
The obliquity of a terrestrial planet is an important clue about its formation and critical to its climate. Previous studies using simulated photometry of Earth show that continuous observations over most of a planet's orbit can be inverted…
As a consequence of gravitomagnetism, which is a fundamental weak-field prediction of general relativity and ubiquitous in gravitational phenomena, clocks show a difference in their proper periods when moving along identical orbits in…
The variation of the solar diameter is the subject of hot debates due to the possible effect on Earth climate and also due to different interpretations of long period solar variabilities, including the total solar irradiance. We shortly…
We analyze different data of the variation of the fine structure constant obtained with different methods to check their consistency.We test consistency using the modified Student test and confidence intervals. We split the data sets in…
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…
We analyze large scale (N~10000) time use surveys in United States, Spain, Italy, France and Great Britain to ascertain seasonal variations in the sleep/wake cycle and the labor cycle after daylight saving time -- summer time arrangements…
Atomic clock technology is advancing rapidly, now reaching stabilities of $\Delta f/f \sim 10^{-18}$, which corresponds to resolving $1$ cm in equivalent geoid height over an integration timescale of about 7 hours. At this level of…
The solar magnetic activity cycle is responsible for periodic episodes of severe space weather, which can perturb satellite orbits, interfere with communications systems, and bring down power grids. Much progress has recently been made in…
When we are fortunate enough to view an exoplanetary system nearly edge-on, the star and planet periodically eclipse each other. Observations of eclipses (transits and occultations) provide a bonanza of information that cannot be obtained…
The ordinal patterns of a fixed number of consecutive values in a time series is the spatial ordering of these values. Counting how often a specific ordinal pattern occurs in a time series provides important insights into the properties of…
We argue that (1) our perception of time through change and (2) the gap between reality and our observation of it are at the heart of both quantum mechanics and the dynamical mechanism of physical systems. We suggest that the origin of…
Sunspots have been known in the West since Galileo Galilei and Thomas Harriot first used telescopes to observe the Sun nearly four centuries ago; they have been known to the Chinese for more than two thousand years. They appear as…
Most of our knowledge about the Sun's activity cycle arises from sunspot observations over the last centuries since telescopes have been used for astronomy. The German astronomer Gustav Sp\"orer observed almost daily the Sun from 1861 until…
Observations of various solar-type stars along decades revealed that they can have magnetic cycles, just like our Sun. An investigation of the relation between their cycle length and rotation period can shed light on the dynamo mechanisms…
We discuss a prediction of the solar activity on a short time-scale applying the method based on a combination of a nonlinear mean-field dynamo model and the artificial neural network. The artificial neural network which serves as a…
There is a desire to observe the sun's poles to further deepen our understanding of solar activity. However, because of the large speeds needed to perform out-of-ecliptic plane maneuvers, chemical and electric rocket propulsion mechanisms…
Stellar occultations and transits occur when a planetary body passes in front of a star (including our Sun). For objects with an atmosphere, refraction plays an essential role to explain the drops of flux and the aureoles observed during…
Temporal information conveyed by language describes how the world around us changes through time. Events, durations and times are all temporal elements that can be viewed as intervals. These intervals are sometimes temporally related in…