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 12.4 years, beginning in December 1810 and ending in May 1823 (thus falling within the Dalton Minimum). The maximum smoothed sunspot number (monthly number of sunspots averaged over a twelve-month period) observed during the solar cycle was 48.7, in May 1816 (the lowest of any cycle to date, as a result of being part of the Dalton Minimum), and the minimum was 0.1.[3]
