Scientists have uncovered a research paper describing a solar flare that was observed by a 17- year-old amateur astronomer, with a modest telescope 131 years ago in Spain. Juan Valderrama y Aguilar was equipped with a small telescope, with an aperture of just 6.6 cm and a neutral density filter to dim the solar light. "The case of Valderrama is very unique, as he was the only person in the world more than a century ago to observe a relatively rare phenomenon: a white-light solar flare. "Furthermore, the white-light flare observed by Valderrama is, chronologically, the third one recorded in the history of solar physics," said Vaquero. The first solar flare was recorded by British astronomer Richard C Carrington on September 1, 1859, and the second was described on November 13, 1872 by the Italian Pietro Angelo Secchi.

Source: dna October 23, 2017 07:30 UTC