Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, May 15, 2021.
The sky was mostly clear with moderate breeze which provided good transparency but average seeing at the time these images were taken.
Solar activity remains at very low levels over the past 24 hours. Both bipolar sunspot groups AR2822 (Modified Zurich/Mcintosh sunspot configuration: Cao/beta) and AR2823 (Axx/alpha) have been continuously experiencing gradual decay in their respective sunspot structures. No significant flaring activity was recorded throughout the monitoring period. Meanwhile, a new small bipolar sunspot group has recently emerged beside AR2822 near the NW limb (currently undesignated); also inactive at this point. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 35.
Other solar features observed were disintegrating plages associated with the upper-mentioned sunspot groups and few small quiescent prominences at the SE limb and some faint eruptive ones at the NW limb 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 B-class to C-class intensity, from these active regions in the next few 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. 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 (5:00 PM – 5:25 PM, May 15, 2021, from NCM Al Wathba Station):
Average Temperature: 39.6°C
Average Humidity: 23.0%
Average Wind Speed and Direction: 26.4 kph from WNW
Average Cloud Cover: 0%
Average Air Pressure: 990.6 hPa
Average Solar Radiation: 264.67 W/m^2