SUNSPOT MONITORING – DECEMBER 10, 2020

Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, December 10, 2020.

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

Solar activity was at very low levels over the past 24 hours. The lone visible sunspot group AR2790 (Hsx/alpha) experienced minuscule to no change on its leader spot and has remained inactive. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 11. Nothing spectacular has been observed except for several tiny quiescent prominences mostly at the southwestern limb, small enhanced plages, and short stable filaments from AR2790 and former AR2791 as distinctively captured in H-alpha imagery. Geomagnetic effects associated with the December 7, 2020 C-class flare and CME were recorded by space weather agencies by the early morning of this day.

Space weather agencies* forecast solar activity to be at low levels with chances of solar flares from B-class up to C-class intensity, mainly from 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 10, 2020, from NCM Al Wathba Station):

Average Temperature: 24.33°C

Average Humidity: 42.67%

Average Wind Speed and Direction: 22.1 kph from NNW

Average Cloud Cover: 5%

Average Air Pressure: 1006.33 hPa

Average Solar Radiation: 104.67 W/m^2

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Al Sadeem Astronomy is a privately-owned company registered in The Department of Economic Development in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) that aims to make astronomy accessible to everyone.