SUNSPOT MONITORING – SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, September 3, 2019.

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

Solar activity has remained at very low levels over the past 72 hours from the previous issue. The small minor sunspot group AR2748 (emerged last September 1, 2019) has decayed significantly and was quiet over the past 48 hours, barely visible in white-light imagery (Modified Zurich/Mcintosh sunspot configuration: Axx/alpha). It is expected to completely disintegrate in the next couple of hours. No significant flaring activity was recorded. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 11.  The remnant plage of AR2748 at the central portion of the Sun’s disk and some huge eruptive prominences at the limbs were distinctively captured in H-alpha imagery.

Space weather agencies* forecast solar activity to remain at very low levels with chances of weak X-ray fluxes or flares ranging 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 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 (5:55 PM – 6:10 PM, September 3, 2019):

Average Temperature: 41.6°C

Average Humidity: 22%

Average Wind Speed and Direction: 25.6 kph from N

Average Cloud Cover: 0%

Average Air Pressure: 987.9 hpa

Average Solar Radiation: 45.43 W/m^2

Average UV Radiation: 35 µW/m^2 (low)

 

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