The Sun Recorded Through History (eBook)

M. Vázquez is a senior solar astronomer and author of "Ultraviolet Radiation in the Solar System", already published by Springer in 2005 J.M.Vaquero has written approximately thirty papers about the use of historical observations and measurements in modern astronomical and geophysical studies

Preface 6
Contents 9
The Sun 14
The Solar Structure 14
The Photosphere 16
The Solar Spectrum 16
Limb Darkening and Optical Depth 18
Granulation 20
Sunspots 21
Faculae 26
Observing the Solar Surface 27
Telescope Basics 28
Image Formation of Extended Objects 29
Telescope Aberrations 34
Atmospheric Seeing 36
The Chromosphere 38
Spectral Lines 38
Plages and the Chromospheric Network 40
Quiet Chromosphere 41
Prominences 41
The Corona 42
The Solar Wind 44
3-D Topology of the Magnetic Field 45
Observing the Outer Layers 47
Time Scales of Solar Variability 48
The Solar Cycle 49
Long-Term Variations 51
Flares 52
Coronal Mass Ejections 53
Solar--Terrestrial Relations 54
Sun -- Climate 54
Space Weather 57
Monographs and Textbooks on Solar Physics 62
Naked-Eye Sunspots 70
The Human Eye as a Detector of Light 72
Solar Damage to the Eye 74
Visibility Criteria 75
Naked-eye Sunspot Observations 80
Historical Oriental Observations 80
Historical Occidental Observations 86
Mayan and Indian Observations 91
Naked-Eye Observations During the Telescopic Era 92
Modern Observations 95
Naked-Eye Sunspots and Temporal Evolution of Solar Activity 99
Time Series with Naked-Eye Sunspot Observations 102
Solar Cycle and Giant Sunspots 106
High-Resolution Record 108
References 110
Solar Drawings 116
Pretelescopic Instruments 116
The Camera Obscura 117
The Invention of the Telescope 119
First Telescopic Observations of Sunspots 121
Thomas Harriot (1560--1621) 121
Johannes Fabricius (1587--1616) 124
Cristoph Scheiner (1575--1650) 125
Galileo Galilei (1564--1642) 126
The Scheiner--Galileo Debate 130
L. Cigoli (1559--1613) 132
Other Observers 133
Instrumental Development 136
The Maunder Minimum 138
J. Hevelius (1611--1687) 139
The Paris Observers 139
William Derham (1657--1735) 142
Nicholas Bion (1652--1733) 142
John Flamsteed (1646--1719) 142
Charles Malapert (1581--1630) 144
G. Kirch and G. Schultz 144
The Rise of Solar Activity and the Dalton Minimum: 18th and 19th Centuries 144
Louis Feuillée (1660--1732) 145
Christian Horrebow (1718--1776) 145
Johann Hyeronimus Schroter (1745--1816) 146
Johann Caspar Staudacher (1731--ca. 1796) 146
William Herschel (1738--1822) 146
J.A. Alzate (1737--1799) 149
J.W. Pastorff (1767--1838) 149
John Herschel (1792--1871) 150
Temple Chevallier (1794--1873) 150
Frederick Howlett (1821--1908) 150
S.H. Schwabe (1789--1875) 151
Sunspot Drawings in the Photography Era 151
G. Spörer (1822--1895) 151
Samuel P. Langley (1834--1905) 152
S. Chevalier (1852--1930) 152
E.L. Trouvelot (1827--1895) 152
Stonyhurst Observatory 153
Gyula Fényi (1845--1927) 154
The First Granulation Drawings 156
Sunspot Fine Structures 159
Penumbra 159
Umbral Structures 160
Light-Bridges 160
Faculae 160
White-Light Flares 162
The Outer Layers of the Sun 163
The Influence of the Eye in Solar Drawings 165
Eye Aberrations 165
The Influence of the Brain 165
Physics from Drawings 166
The Wilson Effect 166
Solar Rotation 168
Sunspot Areas 172
Modern Solar Drawings 173
The Fraunhofer Institut ``Maps of the Sun'' 173
Potsdam 174
The Mt. Wilson Sunspot Drawings 175
Kanzelhöhe 175
Specola Solare Ticinese 176
Rome Solar Phenomena 177
Cartes Synoptiques and Catalogues of Filaments and Active Regions 178
References 179
Solar Eclipses 187
The Basics of Solar Eclipses 187
Total Solar Eclipse Step by Step 191
Some Mathematics 193
Canons and Statistics 194
Historical Solar Eclipse Observations 196
Babylon and Greece 198
Mediaeval Arabic Records 201
Chinese Observations 204
From the Scientific Revolution to Photography (1450--1840) 204
Science Using Early Reports of Solar Eclipses 206
Chronology 207
The Earth's Rotation Clock 207
The Outer Layers of the Sun 212
CMEs and Comets 220
References 223
The Solar Diameter and the Astronomical Unit 229
The Earth's Orbit 229
Measuring the Known World 232
Trigonometry 232
The First Measurements 232
Observing Methods of the Solar Diameter 234
Direct Estimation 234
Transits of the Sun in the Sky 239
Solar Eclipses 246
The Micrometer 248
The Heliometer 249
The Measurement of Time 251
Theoretical Background 252
Long-Term Variations 253
Planetary Transits 255
Orbital Motion of the Inner Planets 255
The Determination of the Solar Radius 259
The Determination of the Sun's Distance 260
Individual Transits 263
A Message from the Past Toward the Future 283
References 284
Terrestrial Aurorae and Solar--Terrestrial Relations 291
Auroral Physics in Brief 291
Geomagnetism 291
Magnetosphere and Solar Wind 298
Geomagnetic Indices 301
Observing the Aurora 303
Folklore, Omen and Myths 305
Babylonia and the Bible 307
The Classical Period 310
Reports During the Last Two Millennia 313
Aurorae Borealis 313
Aurorae Australis 317
The Search for the Cause 318
Scientific Research on Aurorae 318
The Discovery of Solar--Terrestrial Relations 323
Catalogues of Aurorae Observations 324
Catalogues from 18th Until 20th Century 324
Recent Catalogues 326
Aurorae and Secular Solar Activity 328
Aurorae as a ``Proxy'' of Solar Activity 328
Low-Latitude Aurorae 332
Rieger Periodicity 334
Aurora and Great Space Weather Events 335
References 337
Reconstruction of Solar Activity During the Telescopic Era 349
Wolf's Reconstruction 350
Schwabe's Discovery 350
The Wolf Sunspot Number 352
Other Sunspot Numbers 356
Other Solar Indices 357
The Reconstruction by Hoyt and Schatten 360
The Dataset 360
The Group Sunspot Number 361
Uncertainties 366
Some Problems 370
Some Unfinished Tasks 374
Improving and Finding Lost Observations 374
Records in Spanish and Portuguese 375
The Great Gap in the 1740s 377
The Sunspot Numbers During 1736--1739 378
The Hemispheric Numbers 379
Final Comments 381
References 383
Index 389