The Maunder Minimum shown in a 400-year history of sunspot numbers
The Maunder Minimum, also known as the "prolonged sunspot minimum", was a period around 1645 to 1715 during which sunspots became exceedingly rare. During a 28-year period (1672–1699) within the minimum, observations revealed fewer than 50 sunspots. This contrasts with the typical 40,000–50,000 sunspots seen in modern times over a similar timespan.[1]
The Maunder Minimum was first noted by Gustav Spörer in publications in 1887 and 1889, work that was relayed to the Royal Astronomical Society in London, and then expanded on, by solar astronomers Edward Walter Maunder (1851–1928), and his wife Annie Russell Maunder (1868–1947), who also studied how sunspot latitudes changed with time. Two papers were published in Edward Maunder's name in 1890[2] and 1894,[3] and he cited the two earlier papers written by Gustav Spörer.[4][5] Because Annie Maunder had not received a university degree, restrictions at the time caused her contribution not to be publicly recognized.[6] The term Maunder Minimum was popularised by John A. Eddy,[7] who published a landmark paper in Science in 1976.[8]
The Maunder Minimum occurred within the Little Ice Age, a long period (c. 1300 – c. 1850) of lower-than-average European temperatures.[9] The reduced solar activity may have contributed to the climatic cooling, although the cooling began before the solar minimum and its primary cause is believed to be volcanic activity.[10]
^John E. Beckman & Terence J. Mahoney (1998). The Maunder Minimum and Climate Change: Have Historical Records Aided Current Research?. Library and Information Services in Astronomy III. ASP Conference Series. Vol. 153. Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Tenerife: Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
^Maunder, E. W. (1890). "Professor Spoerer's researches on sun-spots". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 50: 251–252.
^Maunder, E. W. (August 1, 1894). "A prolonged sunspot minimum". Knowledge. 17: 173–176.
^Spörer, Gustav (1887). "Über die Periodicität der Sonnenflecken seit dem Jahre 1618, vornehmlich in Bezug auf die heliographische Breite derselben, und Hinweis auf eine erhebliche Störung dieser Periodicität während eines langen Zeitraumes" [On the periodicity of sunspots since the year 1618, especially with respect to the heliographic latitude of the same, and reference to a significant disturbance of this periodicity during a long period]. Vierteljahrsschrift der Astronomischen Gesellschaft. 22. Leipzig: 323–329.
^Spoerer, G. (February 1889). "Sur les différences que présentent l'hémisphère nord et l'hémisphère sud du Soleil" [On the differences that the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere of the Sun present]. Bulletin Astronomique. 6: 60–63. doi:10.3406/bastr.1889.10197. S2CID 222462846.
^Brück, Mary T. (1994). "Alice Everett and Annie Russell Maunder, torch bearing women astronomers". Irish Astronomical Journal. 21: 280–291. Bibcode:1994IrAJ...21..281B.
^Weber, Bruce (June 17, 2009). "John A. Eddy, Solar Detective, Dies at 78". The New York Times. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
^Eddy, J. A. (June 1976). "The Maunder Minimum" (PDF). Science. 192 (4245): 1189–1202. Bibcode:1976Sci...192.1189E. doi:10.1126/science.192.4245.1189. PMID 17771739. S2CID 33896851. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-02-16.
^Mörner, Nils-Axel (July 2010). "Solar Minima, Earth's rotation and Little Ice Ages in the past and in the future: The North Atlantic–European case". Global and Planetary Change. 72 (4): 282–293. Bibcode:2010GPC....72..282M. doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2010.01.004. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
^Crowley, Thomas (2008). "Volcanism and the Little Ice Age". PAGES. 16 (2): 22–23. doi:10.22498/pages.16.2.22.
The MaunderMinimum, also known as the "prolonged sunspot minimum", was a period around 1645 to 1715 during which sunspots became exceedingly rare. During...
cycles, possibly analogous to the Maunder minima for the Sun which lasted 70 years, for example some Maunderminimum candidates are 51 Pegasi, HD 4915...
with that of the MaunderMinimum but with that of the modern solar cycles. Like the MaunderMinimum and Spörer Minimum, the Dalton Minimum coincided with...
identification of the period from 1645 to 1715 that is now known as the MaunderMinimum. Maunder was born in 1851, in London, the youngest child of a minister of...
BC, 7520 BC, 8220 BC, 9170 BC. Active region List of solar cycles MaunderMinimum Solar cycle Solar cycle 24 Solar maximum Moussas, X.; Polygiannakis...
numbers were still high before the start of the MaunderMinimum, and persisted until after the MaunderMinimum had ceased. Numerical climate modelling indicates...
before the start of the MaunderMinimum but after the start of the Spörer Minimum and persisted until after the MaunderMinimum (and even after the much...
Spörer and was later named the Maunderminimum after the wife-and-husband team Annie S. D. Maunder and Edward Walter Maunder who extensively researched this...
of activity with a ~7.9-year cycle, which may indicate it is in a MaunderMinimum state. Although the kinematics of this system suggest that they belong...
since 1610 but the cycle numbering is not well defined during the Maunderminimum. It was proposed that one cycle might have been lost in the late 18th...
that the commonly-invoked association of the Little Ice Age with the Maunderminimum is far too simplistic as, although solar variations may have played...
suggested that the star could be in a low-activity state analogous to a MaunderMinimum—a historical period, associated with the Little Ice Age in Europe,...
several decades; few sunspots were observed during a period known as the Maunderminimum. This coincided in time with the era of the Little Ice Age, when Europe...
the activity level has fallen into a deep minimum that might be similar to the Sun's historical MaunderMinimum. Alternatively, it may have a very long...
7310 BC, 7520 BC, 8220 BC, 9170 BC. Solar wind Solar variation Solar minimum List of solar cycles – table of solar cycles NASA C. D. Camp & K. K. Tung...
The period between approximately 1645 and 1715 corresponds to the Maunderminimum in sunspot activity. In Robert W. Service's satirical poem "The Ballad...
manner and can shut down altogether for periods of time. During the MaunderMinimum, for example, the Sun underwent a 70-year period with almost no sunspot...
politicians opposed to climate-change legislation. Soon co-authored The MaunderMinimum and the Variable Sun–Earth Connection with Steven H. Yaskell. The book...
16 Cygni or 16 Cyg is a triple star system approximately 69 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus. It consists of two Sun-like yellow...
years for the star. The low level of magnetic activity makes it a MaunderMinimum candidate star. 47 Ursae Majoris is the Flamsteed designation. On their...
in luminosity that can have a significant impact on the Earth. The Maunderminimum, for example, is believed to have caused the Little Ice Age phenomenon...
intergroup violence, and high mortality because of the Little Ice Age. The MaunderMinimum involved sunspots being exceedingly rare. Episodes of social instability...
of the Sun? What caused the MaunderMinimum and other grand minima, and how does the solar cycle recover from a minimum state? Coronal heating problem:...
scholars link the worldwide drop in temperature at this time to the MaunderMinimum, an extended period from 1645 to 1715 when sunspots were absent. Whatever...
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