SUNSPOT MONITORING – DECEMBER 15, 2020

Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, December 15, 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 low levels over the past 24 hours. AR2792 (Modified Zurich/Mcintosh sunspot configuration: Bxo/beta) exhibited decay on its structure, particularly shrinkage of its leader spot, while the newly designated AR2783 (Bxo/beta) has grown few more small spots on its leader and trailer sections. These two active regions produced mainly several weak B-class solar flares as recorded by space agencies over the past 24 hours. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 24. Few huge eruptive prominences especially at the opposite (northwestern and southeastern) limbs, small enhanced plages associated with AR2792, and AR2783 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 15, 2020, from NCM Al Wathba Station):

Average Temperature: 26.37°C

Average Humidity: 29.33%

Average Wind Speed and Direction: 5.4 kph from northerly direction

Average Cloud Cover: 5%

Average Air Pressure: 1008.57 hPa

Average Solar Radiation: 100.67 W/m^2

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