Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, November 9, 2020.
The sky was partly cloudy with light breeze which provided good seeing but average transparency at the time these images were taken.
AR2781 (Modified Zurich/Mcintosh sunspot configuration: Dai/beta) experienced gradual shrinkage and disintegration on its intermediate and trailer spots, though it continued to produce several minor B-class flares as recorded by space weather agencies as it transited the Sun’s central disk over the past 48 hours. On the other hand, AR2780 situated in the northern hemisphere had decayed again. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 23. Other visible solar features observed were small quiescent prominences at the northeastern and north-northwestern limbs, as well as the well-defined enhanced plages associated with the upper-mentioned sunspot groups were distinctively captured in H-alpha imagery.
Space weather agencies* forecast solar activity to be at low levels with chances of solar flares of B-class to C-class intensity, mainly from AR2781. 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 QHYCCD290III 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 (4:30 PM – 5:00 PM, November 9, 2020, from NCM Al Wathba Station):
Average Temperature: 32.83°C
Average Humidity: 33%
Average Wind Speed and Direction: 22.43 kph from NNW
Average Cloud Cover: 0%
Average Air Pressure: 1005.33 hPa
Average Solar Radiation: 167.0 W/m^2
