Solar cycle 6

Solar cycle 6
Drawing of sunspots by Jonathan Fisher during the Year Without a Summer (1816)
Sunspot data
Start dateAugust 1810
End dateMay 1823
Duration (years)12.8
Max count81.2
Max count monthMay 1816
Min count0.0
Cycle chronology
Previous cycleSolar cycle 5 (1798–1810)
Next cycleSolar cycle 7 (1823–1833)
The Dalton minimum in the 400-year history of sunspot numbers, showing the low peaks for solar cycles 5 and 6.

Solar cycle 6 was the sixth solar cycle since 1755, when extensive recording of solar sunspot activity began.[1][2] The solar cycle lasted 12.8 years, beginning in August 1810 and ending in May 1823 (thus falling within the Dalton Minimum). The maximum smoothed sunspot number observed during the solar cycle was 81.2, in May 1816 (the lowest of any cycle to date, as a result of being part of the Dalton Minimum), and the starting minimum was 0.0.[3]

  1. ^ Kane, R.P. (2002), "Some Implications Using the Group Sunspot Number Reconstruction", Solar Physics, 205 (2): 383–401, Bibcode:2002SoPh..205..383K, doi:10.1023/A:1014296529097
  2. ^ "The Sun: Did You Say the Sun Has Spots?". Space Today Online. Retrieved 12 August 2010.
  3. ^ SIDC Monthly Smoothed Sunspot Number. "[1]"