Solar Mystery Solved by Astronomer's Drawings From Hundreds of Years Ago

30 July 2024
By MARK THOMPSON, UNIVERSE TODAY



The earliest datable sunspot drawings based on Johannes Kepler's solar observations with the camera obscura in May 1607. (Kepler, J. 1609, Phaenomenon singulare seu Mercurius in Sole, Thomae Schureri, Lipisiae)

Johannes Kepler is probably most well known for developing the laws of planetary motion. He was also a keen solar observer and in 1607 made some wonderful observations of our nearest star using a camera obscura.

His drawings were wonderfully precise and enabled astronomers to pinpoint where the Sun was in its 11-year cycle. Having taken into account Kepler's location and the location of sunspots, a team of researchers have identified the Sun was nearing the end of solar cycle-13.

Johannes Kepler was a German mathematician who was born in 1571. His contribution to the world of celestial mechanics and the movement of the planets is second to none.

The laws of planetary motion that he formulated from the observations of Tyco Brahe have stood the test of time. Other than his work on planetary motion, he was a renowned observer in his own right and he made one of the earliest records of solar activity before the invention of the telescope!

More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/solar-mystery-solved-by-astronomers-drawings-from-hundreds-of-years-ago