No sunspot monitoring were issued from April 14-16, 2021 due to unfavorable weather condition prevailed at the intended observation period.
Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, April 17, 2021.
The sky was partly cloudy with intermittent moderate breeze which provided average transparency and seeing at the time these images were taken.
There are 3 designated sunspot groups currently visible in the Sun’s southern hemisphere. Both AR2814 (Bxo/beta) and AR2815 (Axx/alpha) are in state of decay (with only a few pores barely seen on their respective structures) and produced several minor B-class solar flares over the past few days. On the other hand, AR2816 (Cao/beta) exhibited some spot growth and consolidation especially at its trailer but generally stable and currently dormant. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 39.
Other noteworthy solar features observed were the enhanced plages associated with the upper mentioned sunspot groups, a huge elongated eruptive filament at the extreme northern hemisphere, and few faint quiescent prominences mainly at the opposite (SE and NW) limbs, as distinctively captured in H-alpha imagery.
Space weather agencies* forecast solar activity to be at low levels with chances of solar flares of up to B-class (possibly up to isolated C-class) intensity, mainly from AR2814 and AR2816. 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 (5:00 PM – 5:30 PM, April 17, 2021, from NCM Al Wathba Station):
Average Temperature: 30.93°C
Average Humidity: 14.67%
Average Wind Speed and Direction: 20.23 kph from NW
Average Cloud Cover: 35%
Average Air Pressure: 1001.93 hPa
Average Solar Radiation: 273 W/m^2
