Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, September 8, 2021.
The sky was mostly clear with slight haze and light to moderate breeze which provided average to poor transparency and seeing at the time these images were taken.
5 active regions are currently visible on the Sun’s disk. AR2863 (Hsx/alpha) exhibited further decay of its trailer spots and slight shrinkage of its leader spot; remained relatively inactive. The same circumstance was observed in AR2864 (Cso/beta) but it generated the most C-class solar flares (including a C2.3-class solar flare this morning) and followed by a filament eruption which are all Earth-directed based on its relative position. AR2868 (Ehi/beta) continues to manifest scattering of its gradually growing leader spot and shrinking trailer spots which further expanded in coverage area. This sunspot group produced a C1.1-class flare this morning. The largest among the 4, AR2866 (Dkc/beta) has doubled in size and grew more tiny spots along its trailer section, and also produced few C-class solar flares (including a C1.2-class). A new bipolar sunspot group has emerged below AR2866 and AR2868 and was recently designated as AR2869 (Bxo/beta). The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 97.
Other solar features observed were scattered enhanced plages along the trailer section associated with the upper-mentioned sunspot groups, some short stable filaments near the active regions, and few moderately huge prominences mostly at the NE limb, as distinctively captured in H-alpha imagery.
Space weather agencies* expect low solar activity to persist with chances of B-class to C-class (possibly up to isolated M-class) solar flares in the next few 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. For H-alpha imagery, the equipment used are Lunt 60mm H-alpha solar telescope, and QHYCCD 290III 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 – 5:30 PM, September 8, 2021, from NCM Al Wathba Station):
Average Temperature: 40.03°C
Average Humidity: 39.67%
Average Wind Speed and Direction:21.13 kph from NNW
Average Cloud Cover: 15%
Average Air Pressure: 998.67 hPa
Average Solar Radiation: 146.0 W/m^2
