Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, January 4, 2018.

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

Very low solar activity has persisted over the past 24 hours.

Solar activity remains at very low levels over the past 24 hours. A new sunspot region was seen popping out of the Sun’s visible disk (encircled); to be designated as AR2693 in the next few hours. This will be closely monitored for any progress in structure and magnetic configuration (currently bipolar and stable) that could affect the solar activity status in the coming few days. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 5.  A huge eruptive hedgerow prominence and a pillar-shaped one at the opposite regions of the Sun’s chromosphere 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)