Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, August 16, 2018.

The sky was clear with light to moderate breeze making the transparency good and seeing average at the time these images were taken.

AR2718 grew slightly and improved its magnetic configuration (from single-spot alpha to beta) but was quiet and only produce a weak A-class solar flare over the past hours. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 13.  Other solar features were few small prominences at the limbs, plages, and filaments across the disk as 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 ranging up to B-class intensity. The extent of the frequency and intensity of the Sun’s activity will highly depend on the magnetic flux fluctuations happening in the visible ARs in the coming days. Close monitoring is being conducted by numerous space weather agencies for any significant development.

*Technical reports courtesy of Solar Influence Data Center (SIDC), NOAA-Space Weather Prediction Center (NOAA-SWPC)