SUNSPOT MONITORING – SEPTEMBER 1, 2020

Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, September 1, 2020.

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

The Sun remains spotless and generally inactive on its 11th consecutive day. No significant flaring activity was recorded over the past 24 hours. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 0. SIDC and NOAA-SWPC analyses of the filament eruption reported on August 30, 2020, revealed to be weak and non-Earth directed. The Sun exhibited several plasma ejections through the presence of few huge eruptive prominences at the opposite (northeaster and southwestern) limbs, and some short stable filaments in the northern hemisphere as the only noteworthy solar features distinctively captured in H-alpha imagery.

Space weather agencies* forecast solar activity to be at very low levels with chances of weak X-ray fluxes or flares up to B-class intensity. 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 (5:30 PM – 6:00 PM, September 1, 2020, from NCM Al Wathba Station):

Average Temperature: 41.6°C

Average Humidity: 13%

Average Wind Speed and Direction: 28.57 kph from NNE

Average Cloud Cover: 10%

Average Air Pressure: 992.77 hPa

Average Solar Radiation: 90.33 W/m^2

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