Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, May 15, 2019.
The sky was 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: Axx/alpha) has decayed its sunspot structure even further (barely visible) as it nears the western limb. Meanwhile, AR2741 (Hsx/alpha) exhibited a slight shift on its lobe structure within its main sunspot; produced a B3.6-class flare over the past 24 hours. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 24. Few eruptive prominences mostly along the western limb, as well as the well-defined plages with some elongated stable filaments near the mentioned active region, were distinctively captured in H-alpha imagery.
Space weather agencies* expect a further decline in solar activity with chances of solar flares ranging between B-class and C-class intensity. 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 (5:20 PM – 5:45 PM, May 15, 2019):
Average Temperature: 37.7°C
Average Humidity: 13%
Average Wind Speed and Direction: 17.6 kph from variable directions
Average Cloud Cover: 0%
Average Air Pressure: 993.95 hpa
Average Solar Radiation: 143.14 W/m^2
Average UV Radiation: 99 µW/m^2 (low)
