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Galileo Proves Sunspots Exist
Galileo Galilei and his rival, Christoph Scheiner, lived in the late 1500s and early 1600s. They argued about the topic of sunspots. Sheiner said the spots were orbital planets of the sun. Galileo believed that the spots were on or very near the surface of the sun, meaning that the sun was imperfect. He claimed that the spots originated and dissipated on the surface. He later proved this by calculating change in speed traveling across the visible sun and accounting for the sun’s rotation. -
Heinrich Schwabe Discovers Sun Cycle
Heinrich Schwabe Documented the number of spots that he saw on the sun each day for 17 years. He found that the sun follows a steady pattern in the amount of sunspots over tehe course of about 8 years. -
The Carrington Event
A large solar flare contacted Earth creating a grand Aurora affect and interruption of telegraph signals. Private astronomer, Richard Carrington, witnessed the event through his telescope. -
A Change in Power
A large solar flare interrupted some long-distance phone lines. AT&T redesigned their phone lines to protect against solar energy. -
The Night Comes Early in Canada
A CME caused a nine hour blackout for about six million people in Canada. it was so strong that it melted transformers in New Jersey. -
The Bastille Day Event
Some satellites short-circuited as a result of a CME. This also caused a few radio blackouts. -
The Ultra-powerful Halloween Sun Storm
A flare overwhelmed the scale built to measure it. -
X-Ray Sunflare for Christmas
A solar flare interfered with satellite to ground communications and GPS for about 10 minutes. -
Evidencce of Largest CME Ever Discovered
Evidence of Carbon 14 in tree rings indicated the largest CME ever to hit Earth struck in 774 C.E.
