SUNSPOT MONITORING – AUGUST 14, 2021

Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, August 14, 2021.

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

Solar activity has been at low levels over the past 24 hours. No noticeable change in sunspot structure was seen in the inactive AR2855 (Axx/alpha). AR2833 (Axx/alpha) re-generated its unipolar sunspot structure but also struggling to maintain and showing signs of decay. Two more sunspot groups emerged on the Sun’s disk; including the newly-designated AR2856 (Bxo/beta) and another small one in between AR2853 and AR2855 (encircled; unnumbered at the moment). A C1.4-class solar flare from AR2853 was recorded by space weather agencies yesterday evening (21:08 UTC Aug 13) The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 46. 

Other solar features observed were mostly huge eruptive prominences at NE and SE limbs, and enhanced plages of the upper-mentioned active regions were distinctively captured in H-alpha imagery.

Space weather agencies* forecast very low solar activity of only B-class solar flares in the next few days, mainly from the upper-mentioned sunspot groups. 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 14, 2021, from NCM Al Wathba Station):

Average Temperature: 40.2°C

Average Humidity: 35.0%

Average Wind Speed and Direction: 21.33 kph from NNW

Average Cloud Cover: 5%

Average Air Pressure: 995.0 hPa

Average Solar Radiation: 135.67 W/m^2

Recent Post