SUNSPOT MONITORING – AUGUST 3, 2020

Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, August 3, 2020.

The sky was generally clear with intermittent moderate breeze which provided good transparency but average seeing at the time these images were taken.

Over the past 48 hours, AR2767 has rotated towards the backside of the Sun, disappearing from Earth-view, while AR2768 has decayed into plage.

At this moment, there are two visible sunspot groups visible. First is AR2769 (Modified Zurich/Mcintosh sunspot configuration: Axx/alpha) which experienced some spot structure decay with trailer spot barely visible in white-light imagery and is generally inactive.  Lastly, another small sunspot group has recently rotated into Earth-view from the northeastern limb (encircled; to be designated as AR2770) which was reported to be the source of several minor B-class flares 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 22.

The remnant enhanced plages associated with the former AR2768, as well as ones from AR2769 and AR2770, alongside few moderately huge eruptive prominences at the limbs were distinctively captured in H-alpha imagery.

Space weather agencies* forecast solar activity to be at 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 3, 2020, from NCM Al Wathba Station):

Average Temperature: 41.93°C

Average Humidity: 23%

Average Wind Speed and Direction: 22.1 kph from NNW

Average Cloud Cover: 0%

Average Air Pressure: 984.0 hPa

Average Solar Radiation: 169.33 W/m^2

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