Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, May 4, 2019.
The sky was partly cloudy with intermittent moderate winds which provided average seeing and transparency at the time these images were taken.
The former fairly large single-spot AR2736/AR2738 has returned into Earth-view and was designated as AR2740 (Modified Zurich/Mcintosh sunspot configuration: Hhx/alpha). Yesterday, space weather agencies reported B-class and C-class flaring activity associated with this active region, as well as a back-side coronal mass ejection (CME), and expected more to come as it rotates further face-on into view. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 12. H-alpha imagery revealed some huge eruptive back-side prominence activities at the limbs, as well as the still-frame flaring activity at AR2740.
Space weather agencies* expect a gradual increase in solar activity with chances of B-class and C-class intensity, mainly from AR2740. 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 (5:10 PM – 5:35 PM, May 4, 2019):
Average Temperature: 34.95°C
Average Humidity: 14%
Average Wind Speed and Direction: 33.65 kph from NW
Average Cloud Cover: 25%
Average Air Pressure: 998.65 hpa
Average Solar Radiation: 165.66 W/m^2
Average UV Radiation: 319.5 µW/m^2 (low)
