SUNSPOT MONITORING – DECEMBER 1, 2020

Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, December 1, 2020.

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

Solar activity subsided a bit over the past 24 hours. Small sunspot groups AR2787, AR2788 and AR2789 have significantly decayed into plage.
AR2785 (Hhx/alpha) had its leader spot shrunk slightly and was generally inactive over the past 24 hours. AR2786 (Cko/beta) exhibited some decay mostly on its intermediate spots and consolidation of its trailer spots and exhibiting some weak B-class magnetic enhancements. Lastly, we have a clearer view of the recently designated sunspot group AR2790 which was found to be relatively small and unipolar in structure (Hax/alpha), and produced a minor C3.8-class solar flare this morning, as recorded by the NOAA-SWPC. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 39. 
Other solar features observed were some moderately huge eruptive prominences mostly at the southeastern and southwestern limbs, some on-going magnetic enhancement/solar flaring activities within AR2786 and AR2790, and few short stable filaments within AR2786 as distinctively captured in H-alpha imagery.

Space weather agencies* forecast a gradual decline in solar activity with chances of solar flares from B-class up to C-class intensity, mainly from AR2786 and AR2790. 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 (4:30 PM – 5:00 PM, December 1, 2020, from NCM Al Wathba Station):

Average Temperature: 28.4°C

Average Humidity: 29.67%

Average Wind Speed and Direction: 5.87 kph from NW

Average Cloud Cover: 0%

Average Air Pressure: 1005.77 hPa

Average Solar Radiation: 88.0 W/m^2

   

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