Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, December 18, 2017.

The sky was partly cloudy with light air turbulence making the seeing and transparency average at the time these images were taken.

Solar activity remains at very low levels over the past 24 hours. No sunspot groups were visible at the Sun indicating its relatively quiet state without any solar flaring recorded. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 0. The large eruptive prominence in the southeastern region is still being investigated for any Earth-directed component as it rotates further towards direct-Earth-view, nevertheless stable at this moment. Other features such as small prominences and filaments were distinctively captured in H-alpha imagery.

Space weather agencies* forecast solar activity to remain at very low levels with chances of weak X-ray fluxes or flares ranging up to B-class intensity. The extent of the frequency and intensity of the Sun’s activity will highly depend on the magnetic flux fluctuations happening in the visible ARs in the coming days. Close monitoring is being conducted by numerous space weather agencies for any significant development.

*Technical reports courtesy of Solar Influence Data Center (SIDC), NOAA-Space Weather Prediction Center (NOAA-SWPC)