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Register a new userNumber of Sunspot Groups from the Galileo-Scheiner controversy revisited
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Added by
V\\'ictor M. S\\'anchez Carrasco
Publication date
2021
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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We revise the sunspot observations made by Galileo Galilei and Christoph Scheiner in the context of their controversy on the nature of sunspots. Their sunspot records not included in the current sunspot group database, used as a basis to calculate the sunspot group number, are analyzed. Within the documentary sources consulted in this work, we can highlight the sunspot observations by Scheiner included in the letters sent under the pseudonym Apelles to Marcus Welser and the first sunspot observations made by Galileo, which can be consulted in Le opere di Galileo Galilei. These sunspot observations would extend the temporal coverage for these two observers and filling some gaps in the current group database in the earliest period where the data available is sparse. Moreover, we have detected changes in the quality of the sunspot drawings made by Galileo and Scheiner in their observation series affecting to the number of groups recorded by the two observers. We also compare these records with sunspot observations made by other astronomers of that time. According to this comparison and regarding the same observation days, Scheiner was generally the astronomer who reported more sunspot groups while Harriot, Cigoli, and Galileo recorded a similar number of groups. We conclude these differences are mainly because of the observational method used by the observers.
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We use 5 test data series to quantify putative discontinuities around 1946 in 5 annual-mean sunspot number or group number sequences. The series tested are: the original and n
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