Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T07:44:28.708Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Historical records of solar grand minima: a review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2012

José M. Vaquero
José M. Vaquero*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Física, Centro Universitario de Mérida, Universidad de Extremadura, Avda. Santa Teresa de Jornet, 38, 06800, Mérida, Badajoz, Spain email: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Knowing solar activity during the past centuries is of great interest for many purposes. Historical documents can help us to know about the behaviour of the Sun during the last centuries. The observation of aurorae and naked-eye sunspots provides us with continuous information through the last few centuries that can be used to improve our knowledge of the long-term solar activity including solar Grand Minima. We have more or less detailed information on only one Grand minimum (the Maunder minimum in the second half of 17th century), which serves as an archetype for Grand minima in general. Telescopic sunspot records and measurements of solar diameter during Maunder minimum are available. In this contribution, I review some recent progress on these issues.

Keywords

Sun: activityhistory and philosophy of astronomy
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 7 , Symposium S286: Comparative Magnetic Minima: Characterizing quiet times in the Sun and Stars , October 2011 , pp. 383 - 392
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2012

References

Akasofu, S.-I., 2007, Exploring the Secrets of the Aurora (Springer, 2nd Edition)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boller, W. 1898, Gerlands Beiträge zur Geophysik, 3, 56, 550Google Scholar
Bone, N. 2007, Observing and Recording Nature's Spectacular Light Show (Springer, Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series)Google Scholar
Brekke, A. & Eggeland, A. 1994, The Northern Lights. Their Heritage and Science (Reidel)Google Scholar
Burland, C. A. 1958, In: Proceedings of the 32 International Congress of Americanist (Copenhague), 326–330CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casas, R., Vaquero, J. M., & Vázquez, M. 2006, Solar Phys. 234, 379Google Scholar
Eather, R. H. 1980, Majestic Lights (Washington: American Geophysical Union)Google Scholar
Eddy, J. A. 1976, Science 192, 1189CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eddy, J. A. 1983, Solar Phys. 89, 195CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eddy, J. A., Stephenson, F. R., & Yau, K. C. 1989, Q. J. R. Astron. Soc. 30, 65Google Scholar
Flammarion, C. 1873, L'Atmosphère, (Paris: Librairie Hachete et Cia.)Google Scholar
Fritz, H. 1873, Verzeichniss Beobachteter Polarlichter, (Wien: C. Gerold's Sohn)Google Scholar
Hameed, S. & Gong, G. 1991, Solar Phys. 139, 409CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heilbron, J. L. 2001, The sun in the church: cathedrals as solar observatories (Harvard: Harvard University Press)Google Scholar
Hoyt, D. V. & Schatten, K. H. 1998, Solar Phys. 179, 189CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krivsky, L. 1985, Bull. Astron. Inst. Czechosl., 36, 60Google Scholar
Krivsky, L. & Pejml, K. 1988, Solar Activity, Aurorae and Climate in Central Europe in the last 1000 Years (Publications of the Astronomical Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Publication No. 75)Google Scholar
Lee, E. H., Ahn, Y. S., Yang, H. J., & Chen, K. Y. 2004, Solar Phys., 224, 373CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Link, F. 1962, Geofysikalni Sbornik, 173, 297Google Scholar
Link, F. 1964, Geofysikalni Sbornik, 212, 501Google Scholar
Malville, J. M. & Singh, R. P. B. 1995, Vistas in Astronomy, 39, 431Google Scholar
Manfredi, E. 1736, De Gnomone Meridiano Bononiensi ad Divi Petronii (Bononiae: Laeli a Vulpa)Google Scholar
Miyahara, H., Sokoloff, D., & Usoskin, I. G. 2006, The solar cycle at the Maunder minimum epoch. In: Ip, W.-H., Duldig, M. (Eds.), Advances in Geosciences (Singapore: World Scientific), pp. 120Google Scholar
Moore, S. 2003, J. Br. Astron. Assoc., 113 (5), 305Google Scholar
Nagovitsyn, Yu. A., 2001, Geomagn. Aeron. 41, 711Google Scholar
O'Dell, C. R. & VanHelden, A. Helden, A. 1987, Nature 330, 629Google Scholar
Pap, J., Rozelot, J. P., Godier, S., & Varadi, F. 2001, Astron. Astrophys. 372, 1005Google Scholar
Ribes, E., Ribes, J. C., & Barthalot, R. 1987, Nature 330, 629Google Scholar
Ribes, J. C. & Nesme-Ribes, E. 1993, Astron. Astrophys. 276, 549Google Scholar
Rozelot, J. P. 2001, J. Atmos. Terr. Phys. 63, 375CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schaefer, B. E. 1991, Q. J. R. Astron. Soc., 32, 35Google Scholar
Schaefer, B. E. 1993, Astrophys. J., 411, 909Google Scholar
Scuderi, L. A. 1990, Q. J. R. Astron. Soc. 31, 109Google Scholar
Silverman, S. M. 1992, Reviews of Geophysics 30, 333CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solanki, S. K., Usoskin, I. G., Kromer, B., Schüssler, M., & Beer, J. 2004, Nature, 431, 1084Google Scholar
Soon, W. W.-H. & Yaskell, S. H. 2003, Maunder Minimum and the Variable Sun Earth Connections (Singapore: World Scientific Printers)Google Scholar
Stephenson, F. R. & Willis, D. M. 1999, Astron. Geophys., 40, 21Google Scholar
Toulmonde, M. 1997, Astron. Astrophys. 325, 1174Google Scholar
Usoskin, I. G., Mursula, K., & Kovaltsov, G. A. 2001, J. Geophys. Res. 106 (A8), 16039CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Usoskin, I. G. 2008, Living Rev. Solar Phys., 5, 3 (http://www.livingreviews.org/lrsp-2008-3)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vaquero, J. M. & Gallego, M. C. 2002, Solar Phys., 206, 209Google Scholar
Vaquero, J. M., Gallego, M. C., & García, J. A. 2002, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29, 1997Google Scholar
Vaquero, J. M. 2004, Solar Phys., 223, 283CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vaquero, J. M. 2007, Adv. Spa. Res. 40, 929CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vaquero, J. M. & Vázquez, M. 2009, The Sun Recorded Through History (New York: Springer)Google Scholar
Vaquero, J. M., Gallego, M. C., Usoskin, I. G., & Kovaltsov, G. A. 2011, ApJL 731, L24CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willis, D. M., Easterbrook, M. G., & Stephenson, F. R. 1980, Nature 287, 617Google Scholar
Willis, D. M., Davda, V. N., & Stephenson, F. R. 1996, Q. J. R. Astron. Soc. 37, 189Google Scholar
Wittmann, A. D. & Xu, Z. T. 1987, Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Series, 70, 83Google Scholar
Yau, K. K. C. & Stephenson, F. R. 1988, Q. J. R. Astron. Soc., 29, 175Google Scholar