Records of Sunspots and Aurora Candidates in the Chinese Official Histories of the Yu\'an and M\'ing Dynasties during 1261-1644

TL;DR

This study compiles and analyzes historical Chinese records of sunspots and auroras from 1261-1644, comparing them with other historical and scientific data to understand solar activity patterns during this period.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive survey of Chinese historical observations of solar phenomena and correlates these with other data sources to identify solar activity phases in the 13th-17th centuries.

Findings

Identification of active solar phases in the 1350s-80s and 1610s-30s.

Correlation of Chinese records with TSI and nitrate signals in ice cores.

Insights into solar minima and maxima during the 13th-17th centuries.

Abstract

Records of observations of sunspots and auroras in pre-telescopic historical documents provide useful information about past solar activity both in long-term trends and short-term space weather events. In this study, we present the results of a comprehensive survey of the records of sunspots and aurora candidates in the Yu\'ansh\v{i} and M\'ingsh\v{i}, Chinese Official Histories spanning 1261-1368 and 1368-1644, based on continuous observations with well-formatted reportds conducted by contemporary professional astronomers. We then provide a brief comparison of these data with Total Solar Irradiance (TSI) as an indicator of the solar activity during the corresponding periods to show significant active phases between 1350s-80s and 1610s-30s. We then compared the former with contemporary Russian reports for naked-eye sunspots and the latter with contemporary sunspot drawings based on Western telescopic observations. Especially some of the latter are consistent with nitrate signals preserved in ice cores. These results show us some insights on not only minima and maxima of solar activity during 13th - 17th century.