In 1645, something strange happened with our sun. Galileo was one of the first astronomers to document temporary blemishes on the solar surface, called “sunspots.” But in the mid 17th century they ...

A 417-year-old drawing by Johannes Kepler has just helped solve a major solar puzzle. The 1607 sketch features sunspots that give scientists important insights into how the Sun behaved during the ...

How accurate are past records of sunspots? In a new study published in The Astrophysical Journal, a team of multinational researchers examined the historical record and found that after the unusual ...

Sunspots change in number depending on how much magnetic activity the solar dynamo generates. But there's not total chaos: These changes occur in a cycle, which lasts about 11 years on average. The ...

Using modern techniques, researchers have re-examined Johannes Kepler’s half-forgotten sunspot drawings and revealed previously hidden information about the solar cycles before the grand solar minimum ...

We discuss how, in the 1970's, Eddy took clues from the historical researches of Spörer and Maunder in the 19th century to draw attention to the virtual absence of sunspot activity between 1645 and ...

Prolonged periods of reduced solar activity, such as the Maunder Minimum of 1645–1715, have had a marked cooling effect. The recent observations of an absence of sunspots is fuelling speculation of an ...