Abstract
The application of historical observations of (i) the Sun’s diameter, (ii) the corona and (iii) sunspots to the question of longterm solar variability is considered. Although solar diameter measurements can be mapped in detail since about A.D. 1700, at present it is not possible to use these results to estimate changes in the solar output of energy with any degree of confidence. Coronal observations are too infrequent to prove of much value in the study of changes in solar activity. The telescope record of sunspots since A.D. 1700 is of paramount importance to this problem. However, it is not possible to use observations of sunspots made before this time to reliably delineate solar activity owing to the presence of spurious trends in the data.
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Stephenson, F.R. (1988). Solar Variability from Historical Records. In: Stephenson, F.R., Wolfendale, A.W. (eds) Secular Solar and Geomagnetic Variations in the Last 10,000 Years. NATO ASI Series, vol 236. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3011-7_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3011-7_7
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