![Solar prominences, 1909](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Solar_prominences%2C_1909.jpg)
Solar cycle 14 was the fourteenth
solar cycle
The solar cycle, also known as the solar magnetic activity cycle, sunspot cycle, or Schwabe cycle, is a nearly periodic 11-year change in the Sun's activity measured in terms of variations in the number of observed sunspots on the Sun's surfa ...
since 1755, when extensive recording of solar
sunspot
Sunspots are phenomena on the Sun's photosphere that appear as temporary spots that are darker than the surrounding areas. They are regions of reduced surface temperature caused by concentrations of magnetic flux that inhibit convection. Sun ...
activity began.
The solar cycle lasted 11.5 years, beginning in January 1902 and ending in July 1913. The maximum
smoothed sunspot number
The Wolf number (also known as the relative sunspot number or Zürich number) is a quantity that measures the number of sunspots and groups of sunspots present on the surface of the Sun.
History
Astronomers have been observing the Sun recordi ...
observed during the solar cycle was 107.1, in February 1906 (the lowest since the
Dalton Minimum
The Dalton Minimum was a period of low sunspot count, representing low solar activity, named after the English meteorologist John Dalton, lasting from about 1790 to 1830 or 1796 to 1820, corresponding to the period solar cycle 4 to solar cycle ...
), and the starting minimum was 4.5.
[SIDC Monthly Smoothed Sunspot Number.]
During the minimum transit from solar cycle 14 to 15, there were a total of 1023 days with no sunspots (the second highest recorded of any cycle to date).
[Spotless Days.]
[Solaemon's Spotless Days Page.]
Geomagnetic storms in November 1903, March 1905, and September 1909 affected telegraph lines.
See also
*
List of solar cycles Solar cycles are nearly periodic 11-year changes in the Sun's activity that are based on the number of sunspots present on the Sun's surface. The first solar cycle conventionally is said to start in 1755 when Rudolf Wolf began extensive reporting o ...
References
Solar cycles
{{sun-stub