Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, July 9, 2021.
The sky was generally clear with intermittent moderate breeze which provided good transparency but average seeing at the time these images were taken.
As per the latest records of space weather agencies, AR2840 produced 2 C-class solar flares followed by Type II radio emission early this morning. Having departed from Earth-view, now situated behind the NW limb, it will not be geoeffective (non-Earth directed). On the other hand, AR2839 (Axx/alpha) remained stable quiet. A new small sunspot region has recently rotated into Earth-view near the SE limb (encircled). The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 13.
Other noteworthy solar features observed were the enhanced plages of the upper-mentioned sunspot groups, and some huge eruptive prominences at the SW limb as distinctively captured in H-alpha imagery.
Space weather agencies* forecast a further decline in solar activity with minimal chances of B-class solar flares, from AR2839 in the 24-48 hours. 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 9, 2021, from NCM Al Wathba Station):
Average Temperature: 42.5°C
Average Humidity: 20.67%
Average Wind Speed and Direction: 19.93 kph from WNW
Average Cloud Cover: 0%
Average Air Pressure: 985.0 hPa
Average Solar Radiation: 162.0 W/m^2
