%0 Journal Article
%T Sunspots during the Maunder Minimum
%A Rek, Radosław
%J Quarterly Journal of the History of Science and Technology
%V 2018
%R 10.4467/0023589XKHNT.18.020.9511
%N Volume 63, Issue 3
%P 91-130
%K History of Astronomy, Maunder Minimum
%@ 0023-589X
%D 2018
%U https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/kwartalnik-historii-nauki-i-techniki/article/plamy-sloneczne-podczas-minimum-maundera
%X The first sunspot had been observed with use of a telescope in 1610 by Thomas Harriot, in England. Observations later made by Galileo Galilei and Christoph Scheiner allowed them to publish detailed reviews of the studies.Very important place in the early history of solar investigations is occupied by Johan Hevelius with his catalogue and pictures of sunspot routes on the solar disc. His research had realized in the years 1642–1644 were the last before the so-called Maunder Minimum that started around 1645 and had lasted until 1715 or 1717 year. The hypothetical physical phenomenon propagated by Gustav Spörer at the end of the 19th century and the observations of sunspots that were discerned during this long minimum are discussed in detail.This paper presents the history of these solar research and includes some analyses that allowed me to compare the level of solar activity during the second part of the 17th century with other periods. Some observations of sunspots, discerned in the years 1672–1713 and later by other scientists, who were interested in investigations of the heliolatitude changes of these phenomena in the past, were omitted by Spörer on his published list of spots. A large part of other descriptions was connected with an astrometric measurements and misinterpreted as the solar surface investigations. As a result, a false opinion about the level of solar activity during the Maunder Minimum became a natural explanation for the solar behaviour and different terrestrial phenomena as variability of the radiocarbon isotope abundance in tree-rings.Additionally, this paper presents recently found archival descriptions of the solar spots and descriptions of large sunspots that were visible in the years of deep phase of Minimum, before the year 1700.A development of the Minimum idea, with use of the auroral displays discerned in the second part of the 17th century and the first two decades of the next century, is also shortly discussed. The auroral cyclicity appears to confirm more typical course of the solar activity during these years.