Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, October 16, 2020.

The sky was mostly clear with intermittent light to moderate breeze which provided good transparency and seeing at the time these images were taken.

AR2776 (Modified Zurich/Mcintosh sunspot configuration: Cao/beta) exhibited further penumbral growth on its leader spot, in contrast to its trailer spots decaying. Space weather agencies recorded a few minor B-class to C-class flaring activities from both AR2776 and the former AR2775 approaching the southwestern limb which are all non-Earth directed. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 13. Small enhanced plages associated with the upper mentioned sunspot regions and few tiny quiescent prominences were distinctively captured in H-alpha imagery.

Space weather agencies* forecast solar activity to be at low levels with chances of weak X-ray fluxes or flares up to B-class (possibly up to isolated C-class) intensity, mainly from AR2776. 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 (5:00 PM – 5:20 PM, October 16, 2020, from NCM Al Wathba Station):

Average Temperature: 35.65C

Average Humidity: 9.5%

Average Wind Speed and Direction: 3.6 kph from NE

Average Cloud Cover: 0%

Average Air Pressure: 998.25 hPa

Average Solar Radiation: 98.5W/m^2