Long-Term Solar Variability: Evolutionary Time Scales

Galileo, who played a central role in the modern discovery of sunspots, may have wondered whether the Sun varies. Certainly, his 17th century contemporaries did. The Sun itself all but answered this question a few decades later when it nearly stopped forming sunspots as it entered what is now known...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Radick, Richard R, Pap, Judit M, Fox, Peter, Frohlich, Claus, Hudson, Hugh S, Kuhn, Jeffrey, McCormack, John, North, Gerald, Sprigg, William, Wu, S T
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
Astronomy
Astrophysics
CLIMATE
EVOLUTION(GENERAL)
EVOLUTIONARY TIME SCALES
MAGNETIC FIELDS
NONTHERMAL PHENOMENA
PE61102F
REPRINTS
SOLAR ACTIVITY
SOLAR ATMOSPHERE
SOLAR SYSTEM
SOLAR VARIABILITY
SUN
SUNLIKE STARS
SUNSPOTS
WUAFRL2311RDB1
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Summary:Galileo, who played a central role in the modern discovery of sunspots, may have wondered whether the Sun varies. Certainly, his 17th century contemporaries did. The Sun itself all but answered this question a few decades later when it nearly stopped forming sunspots as it entered what is now known as the Maunder Minimum. Herschel's speculation that the price of wheat might be related to the number of sunspots indicates that the possibility of solar variability was firmly established in the scientific thought of the late 18th century (Eddy, 1983). In the mid-19th century, the approximately 11-year variation in sunspot number was recognized, apparently first by Schwabe. Published in Geophysical Monograph, Solar Variability and Its Effects on Climate, v141 p5-14, 2004. ISSN 0065-8448. ISBN 0-87590-406-8.