Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics Institute of Geology and Geophysics Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
Fei He
Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics Institute of Geology and Geophysics Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
Xinan Yue
Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics Institute of Geology and Geophysics Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
Yong Wei
Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics Institute of Geology and Geophysics Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
Yuqi Wang
Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics Institute of Geology and Geophysics Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
Si Chen
Aerospace Information Research Institute Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
Kai Fan
Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics Institute of Geology and Geophysics Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
Hui Tian
School of Earth and Space Sciences Peking University Beijing China
Jiansen He
School of Earth and Space Sciences Peking University Beijing China
Qiugang Zong
School of Earth and Space Sciences Peking University Beijing China
Lidong Xia
Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar‐Terrestrial Environment School of Space Science and Physics Shandong University Weihai China
Abstract The presence of grand minima, characterized by significantly reduced solar and stellar activity, brings a challenge to the understanding of solar and stellar dynamo. The Maunder Minimum (1645–1715 AD) is a representative grand solar minimum. The cyclic variation of solar activity, especially the cycle length during this period, is critical to understand the solar dynamo but remains unknown. By analyzing the variations in solar activity‐related equatorial auroras recorded in Korean historical books in the vicinity of a low‐intensity paleo‐West Pacific geomagnetic anomaly, we find clear evidence of an 8‐year solar cycle rather than the normal 11‐year cycle during the Maunder Minimum. This result provides a key constraint on solar dynamo models and the generation mechanism of grand solar minima.
