Can this be a reason for global warming?Anne M. Waple is a paleoclimatology researcher at the Climatology Laboratory of the Department of Geoscience at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. She offers this answer. Image: SOHO SOLAR FLAREUP. Changes in the Sun's activity have been recorded since the invention of the telescope. Since the telescope was invented in 1610, people have been regularly recording differences in the appearance of the sun. Although some observations were made earlier, it was really the telescope that allowed consistent sightings of dark blotches on the sun's surface. It was not until 1843, however, that...