Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, March 11, 2021.
The sky was partly cloudy (imaged through passing clouds) with intermittent moderate breeze which provided average transparency and seeing at the time these images were taken.Â
AR2808 (Hsx/alpha) exhibited very little to no change on its lone unipolar sunspot and is generally dormant. Meanwhile, another small sunspot group at the southeastern quadrant got designated as AR2809; also possessing a simple magnetic configuration (Axx/alpha) and currently inactive.was seen emerging along the southeastern quadrant (currently undesignated; encircled). The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 22.
Other noteworthy solar features observed were some small enhanced plages associated with former AR2807 near the SW limb, AR2808 at its trailer, AR2809, and another undeveloped one at the northern mid-latitudes, as well as few minor prominences, including a huge eruptive one at NE and SW limbs, as distinctively captured in H-alpha imagery.
Space weather agencies* forecast solar activity to be at very low levels with chances of solar flares of up to B-class (possibly up to isolated C-class) intensity mainly from AR2808. 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 (4:35 PM – 5:05 PM, March 11, 2021, from NCM Al Wathba Station):
Average Temperature: 33.7°C
Average Humidity: 8.0%
Average Wind Speed and Direction: 18.0 kph from NNW
Average Cloud Cover: 30%
Average Air Pressure: 1001.3 hPa
Average Solar Radiation: 209.0 W/m^2
