SUNSPOT MONITORING – MAY 11, 2019

Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, May 11, 2019.

The sky was mostly clear with intermittent light to moderate winds which provided good transparency but average seeing at the time these images were taken.

AR2740 (Modified Zurich/Mcintosh sunspot configuration: Cao/alpha) exhibited further leader spot shrinkage and gradual decay on its trailer spots. On the other hand, AR2741 (Hsx/alpha) exhibited very little to no change in structure. Both sunspot regions were inactive. No significant flaring activity was recorded. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 27.  Several plasma ejections through the presence of multiple huge eruptive prominences at the limbs, as well as the filaments and the scattered plages near the sunspot regions on the solar disk were distinctively captured in H-alpha imagery.

Space weather agencies* expect decreasing producing of minor solar flares ranging up to B-class to C-class intensity mainly from the two upper-mentioned sunspot regions. The extent of the frequency and intensity of the Sun’s activity will highly depend on the magnetic flux fluctuations happening in the visible ARs in the coming 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 and Lunt H-alpha solar telescope and ZWO120MM CMOS camera for H-alpha imagery, mounted on Skywatcher EQ6 Pro. 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 (5:15 PM – 5:40 PM, May 11, 2019):

Average Temperature: 38.7°C

Average Humidity: 11%

Average Wind Speed and Direction: 17.5 kph from NNW

Average Cloud Cover: 5%

Average Air Pressure: 997.7 hpa

Average Solar Radiation: 169.06 W/m^2

Average UV Radiation: 246 µW/m^2 (low)

 

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