SUNSPOT MONITORING – MAY 6, 2019

Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, May 6, 2019.

The sky was slightly hazy with intermittent light to moderate breeze which provided average seeing and transparency at the time these images were taken.

The lone visible sunspot group AR2740 (Modified Zurich/Mcintosh spot configuration: Dho/beta-delta) has been dynamic in producing multiple solar flares ranging between B-class and C-class (with C9.9 intensity the most powerful one recorded). Meanwhile, another fairly large active sunspot region (encircled; to be designated AR2741) is about to rotate into Earth-view. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 15.  H-alpha imagery revealed the evident flaring activity north of AR2740’s leader spot and few quiescent prominences including the ones at the western limb associated with the facing AR2741.

Space weather agencies* forecast gradual increase of solar flare activity ranging from B-class to C-class (possibly up to isolated M-class) solar flare activity mainly from AR2740 and AR2741. 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 – 5:30 PM, May 6, 2019):

Average Temperature: 35.75°C

Average Humidity: 25.5%

Average Wind Speed and Direction: 21.95 kph from N

Average Cloud Cover: 5%

Average Air Pressure: 998.25 hpa

Average Solar Radiation: 178.375 W/m^2

Average UV Radiation: 99 µW/m^2 (low)

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