Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, January 17, 2018.

The sky was partly cloudy but experienced intermittent light to moderate winds making the seeing and transparency average to poor at the time these images were taken.

Very low solar activity was observed over the past 24 hours. The lone visible sunspot group AR2696 has grown slightly in structure but is currently relatively stable and inactive. No significant solar flare activity was recorded throughout the monitoring period. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 17.  Few tiny prominences 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)