<p>The National Solar Observatory <a href="https://www.nso.edu/data/historical-archive/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">historical archive</a> lists at least one source of sunspot data. Under 'Sacramento Peak Telescope'->'Evans Solar Facility' there is a Dropbox link to <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/g4s822ex9h0ubsh/AACLlKJ_DkYXq062o-H4tiRIa/sunspots?dl=0&amp;preview=spots.list&amp;subfolder_nav_tracking=1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Sunspot numbers data</a> which seems to have spot numbers against time in ASCII format; this may be a suitable resource to get you going.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-03-02T08:25:10.527Z
The sunspot number isn't exactly what I'm going for. I would like to have the latitude of the sunspots.
usernumber
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-03-02T16:58:19.820Z
Makes sense, I will need to do some further digging. I found the quality of data archiving there surprisingly poor, hopefully there is a dataset out there to be found without having to reanalyze all the full-disk solar images.
astrosnapper
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-28T18:23:25.527Z
2020-02-28T18:23:25.527Z
astrosnapper
<p>I would like to plot a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cycle#Sunspots" rel="nofollow noreferrer">butterfly diagram</a>. I've been looking through the <a href="https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/data.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">SOHO archive</a> for a table that would indicate the date and position of each sunspot, but to no avail. The closest I got was to use <a href="https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/synoptic/sunspots_earth/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the archived images</a> to create the table myself, but that would be extremely fastidious. </p>

<p>Is there a place where I might find this kind of data?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-28T08:22:17.750Z
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs41116-020-0023-y has maybe some data sources linked. Maybe also this PhD thesis: https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/opus4-ubp/frontdoor/deliver/index/docId/41360/file/senthamizh_pavai_diss.pdf
planetmaker
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-29T17:58:45.323Z
Possibly here: http://www.sidc.be/silso/datafiles
Wayfaring Stranger
<sunspots>
Is there a database of past sunspots?
usernumber
# Is there a database of past sunspots?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-02-28)

I would like to plot a [butterfly diagram](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cycle#Sunspots). I've been looking through the [SOHO archive](https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/data.html) for a table that would indicate the date and position of each sunspot, but to no avail. The closest I got was to use [the archived images](https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/synoptic/sunspots_earth/) to create the table myself, but that would be extremely fastidious.

Is there a place where I might find this kind of data?

**Tags:** sunspots

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs41116-020-0023-y has maybe some data sources linked. Maybe also this PhD thesis: https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/opus4-ubp/frontdoor/deliver/index/docId/41360/file/senthamizh_pavai_diss.pdf  
> **username_2**: Possibly here: http://www.sidc.be/silso/datafiles  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2020-02-28. Score: 3

The National Solar Observatory [historical archive](https://www.nso.edu/data/historical-archive/) lists at least one source of sunspot data. Under 'Sacramento Peak Telescope'->'Evans Solar Facility' there is a Dropbox link to [Sunspot numbers data](https://www.dropbox.com/sh/g4s822ex9h0ubsh/AACLlKJ_DkYXq062o-H4tiRIa/sunspots?dl=0&preview=spots.list&subfolder_nav_tracking=1) which seems to have spot numbers against time in ASCII format; this may be a suitable resource to get you going.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: The sunspot number isn't exactly what I'm going for. I would like to have the latitude of the sunspots.  
> **username_3**: Makes sense, I will need to do some further digging. I found the quality of data archiving there surprisingly poor, hopefully there is a dataset out there to be found without having to reanalyze all the full-disk solar images.  

---

