Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, March 9, 2021.
The sky was mostly clear with intermittent moderate breeze which provided average transparency and seeing at the time these images were taken.Â
AR2806 has departed from Earth-view and went behind the southwestern limb. Meanwhile, a few tiny spots have re-emerged from AR2807 (Modified Zurich/Mcintosh sunspot configuration: Axx/alpha) 24 hours after its decay; remains generally inactive. In addition, a new sunspot group has just rotated into Earth-view from the Sun’s northeastern limb; now designated as AR2808 (Catania group 78) (Hsx/alpha). It was the source of a non-Earth directed C1-class solar flare recorded by space agencies throughout the 24-hour monitoring period. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 23.
Other noteworthy solar features observed were some small enhanced plages associated with AR2807, AR2808, and another undeveloped one at the NE limb, as well few quiescent and huge eruptive prominences mostly at the 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 (4:40 PM – 5:00 PM, March 9, 2021, from NCM Al Wathba Station):
Average Temperature: 32.5°C
Average Humidity: 13.0%
Average Wind Speed and Direction: 14.2 kph from N
Average Cloud Cover: 0%
Average Air Pressure: 1003.1 hPa
Average Solar Radiation: 238.5 W/m^2
