SUNSPOT MONITORING – MARCH 4, 2021

Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, March 4, 2021.

The sky was generally clear with intermittent light to moderate breeze which provided good transparency and seeing at the time these images were taken. 

The two small bipolar active regions AR2806 and AR2807 (Modified Zurich/Mcintosh sunspot configuration: Bxo/beta) are both exhibiting some decay in its respective sunspot structure over the past 24 hours. No significant flaring activities were recorded throughout the monitoring period. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 27.

Nothing much significant going on with the Sun lately aside from short stable filaments near the dormant sunspot groups and another long one at the extreme northern hemisphere, together with the enhanced plages associated with AR2806 and AR2807, as the other noteworthy solar features distinctively captured in H-alpha imagery.

Space weather agencies* forecast solar activity to be at low levels with chances of solar flares of up to B-class (possibly up to C-class) intensity mainly from the two upper-mentioned sunspot groups. 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 (4:30 PM – 5:05 PM, March 4, 2021, from NCM Al Wathba Station):

Average Temperature: 35.47°C

Average Humidity: 17.33%

Average Wind Speed and Direction: 12.87 kph from northwesterly direction

Average Cloud Cover: 0%

Average Air Pressure: 1002.67 hPa

Average Solar Radiation: 280.0 W/m^2

Recent Post