Gustav Spörer

Friederich Wilhelm Gustav Spörer (October 23 1822 – July 7 1895) was a German astronomer.

He is noted for his studies of sunspots and sunspot cycles. In this regard his name is often mentioned together with Edward Maunder. Spörer was first to note a prolonged period of low sunspot activity from 1645 to 1715, this period is known as the Maunder Minimum.

Spörer was a contemporary of Richard Christopher Carrington, an English astronomer. Carrington is generally credited with discovering Spörer's law, which governs the variation of sunspot latitudes during the course of a solar cycle. Spörer added to Carrington's observations of sunspot drift, and is sometimes credited with the discovery.

The Spörer minimum was a period of low sunspot activity roughly between 1420 to 1570.

External link

• http://www.hao.ucar.edu/public/education/sp/images/spoerer.html