SUNSPOT MONITORING – DECEMBER 14, 2020

Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, December 14, 2020.

The sky was mostly clear (with few passing cirrus at the west) with intermittent light to moderate breeze which provided average transparency and seeing at the time these images were taken.

Solar activity was at very low levels over the past 24 hours. After the departure of AR2790 from Earth-view yesterday, AR2792 (Modified Zurich/Mcintosh sunspot configuration: Bxo/beta) exhibited consolidation of its pores on its leader. It was the main source of mainly several weak B-class and C-class solar flares as recorded by space agencies over the past 48 hours. On the other hand, another small enhanced unipolar active region (Axx/alpha) was seen emerging from the east-southeastern limb (encircled; to be designated as AR2793). The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 22. Several huge eruptive prominences mostly at the southwestern limb, small enhanced plages associated with AR2792, and the developing active region were distinctively captured in H-alpha imagery.

Space weather agencies* forecast solar activity to be at very low levels with chances of solar flares of B-class (possibly isolated C-class) intensity, mainly from 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 (4:30 PM – 5:00 PM, December 14, 2020, from NCM Al Wathba Station):

Average Temperature: 25.03°C

Average Humidity: 36%

Average Wind Speed and Direction: 12.73 kph from NNE

Average Cloud Cover: 5%

Average Air Pressure: 1006.833 hPa

Average Solar Radiation: 105.33 W/m^2

Quick Links

Get Directions

OBSERVATORY

Open Tuesday to Sunday from Winter: 07:00PM Onwards
Summer: 08:00PM Onwards

Direction

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.