Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, July 2, 2021.
The sky was generally clear with light to moderate breeze which provided good transparency and seeing at the time these images were taken.
Slight consolidation was observed in the intermediate and trailer spots of the large sunspot group AR2835 (Ekc/beta-gamma) and has produced several weak B-class solar flares throughout the monitoring period. Meanwhile, continuous gradual spot decay was observed in the smaller and inactive sunspot group AR2836 (Hsx/alpha); leaving only its leader spots. In contrast, AR2837 (Cro/beta) has developed a couple more smaller spots in its leader section, making it now bipolar in magnetic configuration, and also produced few minor B-class solar flares. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 55.
Other noteworthy solar features observed were enhanced plages associated with the upper-mentioned sunspot groups and undeveloped active regions at the northern hemisphere, and few short stable and elongated eruptive filaments across the Sun’s disk, and mostly small quiescent prominences at the limbs as distinctively captured in H-alpha imagery.
Space weather agencies* forecast solar activity to be at low levels with chances of solar flares of mostly B-class to C-class (possibly up to isolated M-class) intensity, mainly from the upper mentioned sunspot groups in the next few days. 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 (5:30 PM – 6:00 PM, July 2, 2021, from NCM Al Wathba Station):
Average Temperature: 42.5°C
Average Humidity: 13.33%
Average Wind Speed and Direction: 16.07 kph from N
Average Cloud Cover: 0%
Average Air Pressure: 987.0 hPa
Average Solar Radiation: 158.0 W/m^2
