Candidate Auroral Observations during the Major Solar-Terrestrial Storm in May 1680: Implication for Space Weather Events during the Maunder Minimum

Abstract

The Maunder Minimum (1645-1715) is currently considered the only grand minimum within telescopic sunspot observations since 1610. During this epoch, the Sun was extremely quiet and unusually free from sunspots. However, despite reduced frequency, candidate aurorae were reported in the mid-European sector during this period and have been associated with occurrences of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs), whereas some of them have been identified as misinterpretations. Here, we have analysed reports of candidate aurorae on 1 June 1680 with simultaneous observations in mid-Europe, and compared their descriptions with visual accounts of early modern aurorae. Most contemporary sunspot drawings from 22, 24, and 27 May 1680 have shown that this apparent sunspot may have been a source of ICMEs, which caused the reported candidate aurorae. On the other hand, its intensity estimate shows that the magnetic storm during this candidate aurora was probably within the capability of the storms derived from the corotating interaction region (CIR). Therefore, we accommodate both ICMEs and CIRs as their possible origin. This interpretation is probably applicable to the candidate aurorae in the often-cited Hungarian catalogue, on the basis of the reconstructed margin of their equatorward auroral boundary. Moreover, this catalogue itself has clarified that the considerable candidates during the MM were probably misinterpretations. Therefore, frequency of the auroral visibility in Hungary was probably lower than previously considered and agree more with the generally slow solar wind in the existing reconstructions, whereas sporadic occurrences of sunspots and coronal holes still caused occasional geomagnetic storms.

arXiv comment22 pages and 5 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal; Figure 3 is available only in the record version

References in corpus (24)

• The Solar Cycle
• Revisiting the Sunspot Number
• Grand minima and maxima of solar activity: New observational constraints
• Reconstruction of the Sunspot Group Number: the Backbone Method
• The Maunder minimum (1645--1715) was indeed a Grand minimum: A reassessment of multiple datasets
• Visualization of the challenges and limitations of the long-term sunspot number record
• Solar total and spectral irradiance reconstruction over the last 9000 years
• Level and length of cyclic solar activity during the Maunder minimum as deduced from the active day statistics
• Low-Latitude Aurorae during the Extreme Space Weather Events in 1859
• The Extreme Space Weather Event in 1903 October/November: An Outburst from the Quiet Sun
• Thaddäus Derfflinger's sunspot observations during 1802-1824: A primary reference to understand the Dalton Minimum
• Redefining the limit dates for the Maunder Minimum
• Planetary harmonics in the historical Hungarian aurora record (1523-1960)
• The earliest drawings of datable auroras and a two-tail comet from the Syriac Chronicle of Zūqnīn
• The Dalton Minimum and John Dalton's Auroral Observations
• Do the Chinese Astronomical Records Dated AD 776 January 12/13 Describe an Auroral Display or a Lunar Halo? A Critical Re-examination
• Reconstructed sunspot positions in the Maunder Minimum based on the correspondence of Gottfried Kirch
• The Earliest Candidates of Auroral Observations in Assyrian Astrological Reports: Insights on Solar Activity around 660 BCE
• Aurora Candidates from the Chronicle of Qīng Dynasty in Several Degrees of Relevance
• An Optical Atmospheric Phenomenon Observed in 1670 over the City of Astrakhan Was not a Mid-Latitude Aurora
• The Solar Corona during the Total Eclipse on 16 June 1806: Graphical Evidence of the Coronal Structure during the Dalton Minimum
• Intense geomagnetic storm during Maunder minimum possibly by a quiescent filament eruption
• The Celestial Sign in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in the 770s: Insights on Contemporary Solar Activity
• On the Relationship Between Transit Time of ICMEs and Strength of the Initiated Geomagnetic Storms

Cited by in corpus (2)

• The Dalton Minimum and John Dalton's Auroral Observations
• Reanalyses of the Sunspot Observations of Fogelius and Siverus: Two "Long-Term" Observers during the Maunder Minimum