Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, August 1, 2020.
The sky was generally clear with intermittent moderate breeze which provided good transparency but average seeing at the time these images were taken.
The Sun currently exhibits 3 visible sunspot groups at the moment. AR2767 (Modified Zurich/Mcintosh sunspot configuration: Hsx/alpha) remains relatively simple and unchanged in structure as it approaches the southwestern limb. AR2768 (Bxo/beta) exhibited weak decay in its leader spot with a tiny pore just emerged on the trailer. Lastly, a small sunspot group has recently rotated into Earth-view from the northeastern limb (encircled; to be designated as AR2769) created a minor B-class flare over the past 24 hours. Its magnetic configuration is currently undefined due to its sideways orientation. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 34. Small enhanced plages associated with the 3 active regions and a mound quiescent filament at the far northeastern limb 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 up to B-class (possibly up to C-class) intensity. 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 (5:35 PM – 6:00 PM, August 1, 2020, from NCM Al Wathba Station):
Average Temperature: 43.67°C
Average Humidity: 22.67%
Average Wind Speed and Direction: 24.47 kph from N
Average Cloud Cover: 0%
Average Air Pressure: 985.63 hPa
Average Solar Radiation: 160.33 W/m^2
