Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, January 18, 2018.
The sky was clear with light air turbulence making the seeing and transparency good at the time these images were taken.
Solar activity remains at very low levels over the past 24 hours. Gradual structure decay was observed at the lone visible sunspot group AR2696 and it was inactive. Still possessing relatively stable magnetic configuration, it produced a single B-class solar flare throughout the monitoring period. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 12. Tiny prominences and a well-defined filament 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)
