THE MOUNT WILSON OBSERVATORY S-INDEX OF THE SUN

The most commonly used index of stellar magnetic activity is the instrumental flux scale of singly ionized calcium H & K line core emission, S, developed by the Mount Wilson Observatory (MWO) HK Project, or the derivative index R'(HK) K. Accurately placing the Sun on the S scale is important for comparing solar activity to that of the Sunlike stars. We present previously unpublished measurements of the reflected sunlight from the Moon using the second-generation MWO HK photometer during solar cycle 23 and determine cycle minimum S-23,S-min = 0.1634 +/- 0.0008, amplitude Delta S-23= 0.0143 +/- 0.0012, and mean < S-23 > = 0.1701 +/- 0.0005. By establishing a proxy relationship with the closely related National Solar Observatory Sacramento Peak calcium K emission index, itself well correlated with the Kodaikanal Observatory plage index, we extend the MWO S time series to cover cycles 15-24 and find on average < S-min > = 0.1621 +/- 0.0008, <Delta S-cyc > = 0.0145 +/- 0.0012, < S-cyc > = 0.1694 +/- 0.0005. Our measurements represent an improvement over previous estimates that relied on stellar measurements or solar proxies with non-overlapping time series. We find good agreement from these results with measurements by the Solar-Stellar Spectrograph at Lowell Observatory, an independently calibrated instrument, which gives us additional confidence that we have accurately placed the Sun on the S-index flux scale.