to pose a further question....
are most of the things we are seeing now...for the first time, just because we are able to see them for the first time? how did they record the first say 10 solar cycles?

Following the numbering scheme established by Wolf, the 1755–1766 cycle is traditionally numbered "1". The period between 1645 and 1715

Cycles as short as 9 years and as long as 14 years have been observed, and in the double cycle of 1784-1799 one of the two component cycles had to be less than 8 years in length.
thank you [link to en.wikipedia.org]

now what about before 1755 cycle 1. there seems to have been some record back to 1699, but what about before????
this might fall into the statement..."humans have forgoten more then we have just discovored!"
this book does pose many question about what our ancients did know on this issues!
"The Fingerprint of the Gods" [link to megpugh.com]



i started looking at the sun...mostly during the eclipses in the late 60's. we would concoct these silly cardboard tube things and just look at the shadows. kinda like the first sun spots were. not much detail.
now with the help of the new tech. we can get great images.
but this has only been in the last 20 years. it is very hard to base behavoir of a star that is millions of years old on the last 20 years.