SUNSPOT MONITORING – AUGUST 30, 2021

Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, August 30, 2021.

The sky was mostly clear with moderate to fresh breeze which provided good transparency but average to poor seeing at the time these images were taken.

A slight decrease in solar activity was observed over the past 48 hours  The largest sunspot group AR2860 (Ekc/beta-gamma) exhibited gradual decay of its entire sunspot structure (especially on its trailer) but still producing occasional minor C-class solar flares. Meanwhile, the other visible sunspot group AR2859 (Bxo/beta) was relatively stable and quiet. AR2861 has completely disintegrated. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 39. 

Small enhanced plages associated with the upper mentioned sunspot groups, few short filaments across the Sun’s disk, and several moderately huge eruptive prominences mostly at the limbs were the other solar features distinctively captured in H-alpha imagery.

Space weather agencies* forecast low solar activity with chances of C-class solar flares and possibly isolated M-class flares from the upper mentioned sunspot groups (especially AR2860) in the next few days. Close monitoring is being conducted by numerous space weather agencies for any significant development.

Equipment used are Skywatcher 120mm refractor telescope with Baader filter and unmodified Canon EOS 1D Mark IV DSLR camera for visible imagery. For H-alpha imagery, the equipment used are Lunt 60mm H-alpha solar telescope, and QHYCCD 290III mono camera; all mounted on Skywatcher EQ6 pro mount Pre-processing of visible solar images was performed in PIPP, stacking in Autostakkert, slight wavelet adjustments in Registax 6, and post-processing in Adobe Photoshop CC.


*TECHNICAL REPORTS COURTESY OF SOLAR INFLUENCE DATA CENTER (SIDC), NOAA-SPACE WEATHER PREDICTION CENTER (NOAA-SWPC)

Weather Data (5:30 PM – 6:00 PM, August 30, 2021, from NCM Al Wathba Station):

Average Temperature: 42.8°C

Average Humidity: 14.0%

Average Wind Speed and Direction: 14.27 kph from northeaterly direction

Average Cloud Cover: 10%

Average Air Pressure: 995.0 hPa

Average Solar Radiation: 96.67 W/m^2

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