SUNSPOT MONITORING – NOVEMBER 7, 2020

Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, November 7, 2020.

The sky was partly cloudy with light breeze which provided good seeing but average transparency at the time these images were taken.

AR2781 (Modified Zurich/Mcintosh sunspot configuration: Eki/beta-gamma) exhibited continuous sunspot structural growth and scattering of its intermediate and trailer spots which in turn expanding its coverage area. It continued to produce several occasional C-class flares as recorded by space weather agencies over the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, AR2780 (Axx/alpha) is gradually decaying in structure (barely seen in white-light imagery) and has been dormant. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 31.  A moderately huge eruptive prominence at the northwestern limb as well as the well-defined enhanced plages associated with the upper-mentioned sunspot groups were distinctively captured in H-alpha imagery.

Space weather agencies* forecast solar activity to be at low levels with chances of solar flares of B-class to C-class intensity, mainly from AR2781. 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 QHYCCD290III 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 (4:30 PM – 5:00 PM, November 7, 2020, from NCM Al Wathba Station):

Average Temperature: 32.43°C

Average Humidity: 32.67%

Average Wind Speed and Direction: 7.07kph from southerly direction

Average Cloud Cover: 0%

Average Air Pressure: 1005.13 hPa

Average Solar Radiation: 99.33 W/m^2

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