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• Solar Astronomy in the Prehistoric Southwest
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History of Solar Physics: A Time Line of Great Moments

1223 BC–250 BC	0–1599	1600–1799	1800–1999
1223 BC The oldest eclipse record ca. 800 BC The first plausible recorded sunspot observation ca. 350 BC Sun circling under a sheltering sky ca. 200 BC The distance to the Sun	968 The first mention of the solar corona 1128 The first sunspot drawing 1185 The first description of solar prominences 1543 The Sun moves to center stage	1609 The Sun in focus 1610 First telescopic observations of sunspots 1644 The Sun as a star 1645-1715 Sunspots vanish 1687 The mass of the Sun 1774-1801 The physical nature of sunspots 1796 The nebular hypothesis	1800 The Sun's invisible radiation 1802 Black lines in the Sun 1817 Solar spectroscopy is born 1838 The solar constant 1843 The sunspot cycle 1845 The first solar photograph 1848 The sunspot number 1852 The sunspot cycle is linked to geomagnetic activity 1858-1859 The solar differential rotation 1859 First observation of a solar flare 1859 The chemical composition of the Sun 1860 First observations of a coronal mass ejection 1881 The solar constant, again 1908 The magnetic nature of sunspots 1919 The Sun's magnetic cycle 1931 The coronagraph

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