Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, May 5, 2018.
The sky was slightly hazy and experienced intermittent light to moderate breeze making the seeing and transparency average at the time these images were taken.
The newly designated sunspot group AR2708 grew slightly in structure but did not produce any flaring activity over the past 24 hours. It was also found to be decaying shortly after its development. Meanwhile, another suspected active region near AR2708 at the east-northeastern limb is rotating into Earth-view. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 5. Few pillar-shaped prominences at the limbs and plages associated with AR2708 and the rotating AR were distinctively captured in H-alpha imagery.
Space weather agencies* forecast solar activity to remain at very low levels with chances of weak X-ray fluxes or flares ranging up to B-class intensity. The extent of the frequency and intensity of the Sun’s activity will highly depend on the magnetic flux fluctuations happening in the visible ARs in the coming days. Close monitoring is being conducted by numerous space weather agencies for any significant development.
*Technical reports courtesy of Solar Influence Data Center (SIDC), NOAA-Space Weather Prediction Center (NOAA-SWPC)
