Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, September 7, 2017.
The sky was mostly clear with less air turbulence, making the seeing and transparency good at the time these images were taken.
High-level solar activity has persisted over the past 24 hours with the presence of four sunspot groups and further solar flaring activity. From the recent space weather reports*, the magnetically composite AR2673 was the primary source of the recent significant solar activity which involved some recent M-class and X-class solar flares. These moderate to strong flares are Earth-directed which will affect the geomagnetic activity on September 8; would cause some minor to moderate radio and navigational satellite disruptions/blackouts and bright aurorae to be seen over the polar regions as low as to the northern mid-latitudes.
On the other hand, despite its large structure and potential, AR2674 (starting to decay gradually on its trailer spots), as well as the other sunspot groups (AR2677 and AR2678) were magnetically stable and inactive without any flaring activity recorded.
The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 80.
With this stance, space weather agencies* predict relatively moderate to strong solar activity, with flare intensity ranging from B-class to C-class with a moderate chance of M-class and possibly up to X-class; most likely from AR2673 or AR2674) in the next few days. 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.
*courtesy of Solar Influence Data Center (SIDC), NOAA-Space Weather Prediction Center (NOAA-SWPC)
