Ancient Documents Reveal Sunspots, Auroras and Other Solar Activity before Galileo

Some references to the phenomena date as early as the seventh century. Until Galileo kick-started modern astronomy in the early 1600s, the record of the sun’s activities was basically blank—or so scientists thought. To shed light on our star’s history, researchers at Kyoto University in Japan have begun to comb through ancient texts. So far they have found dozens of … Continue reading →