Solar cycle 25

Alright, this is for sharing of your observation experience. Or, if you are arranging gatherings, star-gazing expeditions or just want some company to go observing together, you can shout it out here.
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yltansg
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Re: Solar cycle 25

Post by yltansg »

superiorstream wrote: Fri Jul 23, 2021 12:34 am
In 540nm.... Although spaceweather indicates 6 sunspots visible, my system only can see 3.,namely 2845,2846, and 2848.All have dipole structures..... Namely just 2 spots. All of them are small dots.
Hi Mr Chia,

Thank you for sharing your solar observation.

I did imaging in both HA and CAK. I was able to capture all 6 spots on 22 July too. The results were much better in CAK than in HA.

The 6 ARs featured on Spaceweather:
Image

Image AR 2846

Image
AR2846 and AR2848

Image
AR2842

Image
AR 2845
Image
AR2849 and AR2847

superiorstream wrote: Fri Jul 23, 2021 12:34 am
In Cak...... Same 6 regions are glowing in cak.
Again glow isn't that intense.
The spots are indeed small.

superiorstream wrote: Fri Jul 23, 2021 12:34 am In Ha 0.5A bandwidth....
Both northern and southern belt has 3 active regions..... One at each edge and one somewhere near the middle. Each are small however and didn't exhibit intense glow., suggesting that activities are mild.
WHY ARE SUNSPOTS IN THIS CYCLE..... AT LEAST UP TO NOW..... SO SMALL IN SIZE.
ITS NOT LIKE THAT IN THE LAST 3 SOLAR CYCLES THAT I HAD OBSERVED.
Image

The HA images were of inferior quality compared to the CAK images. For example, the fibrils around AR2846 are not sharp at all and it was a big struggle during focusing. Hopefully we will get to see bigger sunspots in this season soon.

Alfred
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yltansg
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Re: Solar cycle 25

Post by yltansg »

23July's CAK images.

Image
AR2846

Image
A microflare from AR2842

Image
AR2849 and AR2847 are small and stable.

Alfred
superiorstream
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Re: Solar cycle 25

Post by superiorstream »

Thanks Alfred for the photos........
In fact for me, in Cak only sunspot 2846 show up as spotted while others show up as bright patches only.
Anyway I believe its due to the sensitivity or the bandwidth of the filter and the aperture of the telescope used., and improvements will mean incurring more cost. Also, I use a focal method of photography rather than ccd or dslr., hence the result.
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yltansg
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Re: Solar cycle 25

Post by yltansg »

Mr Chia, It may also be that the seeing was poor on that day.

Mr Chia and solar enthusiasts,

All the spots were gone on 30 July. This is a CAK imate from SDO:

Image

I used my C11 with CAK filter to get the plage on the Northern hemisphere near to the western limb:

Version 1
Image

Here is another rendition (Version 2), with a slightly different post processing:
Image

These 2 versions are slightly different because of different post processing workflow that I used. I am not sure which is nearer to the actual image in CAK. What do you think?

Alfred
superiorstream
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Re: Solar cycle 25

Post by superiorstream »

Hi Alfred
Different sensitivity of filter will give different view of the same region. In fact, in my early days, I tried Cak filters..... Namely baader cak,, cak pst and lunt cak...... All give me different view of bright region.
These is not important to armature astronomy but important to researchers who would like to explore the sort of nuclear reaction taking place at that region of the sun.
ANYWAY WHATEVER SHAPE IT TAKES, A BRIGHT REGION INDICATES A REGION OF HIGH SOLAR ACTIVITIES.
ESPECIALLY WHEN IT SHOW UP IN BOTH Ha AND CAK.
superiorstream
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Re: Solar cycle 25

Post by superiorstream »

And now for today's sun:-
In 540nm
2859 visible as a tiny sunspot with a small penumbra in the northern belt. Its amazing that this sunspot give out a SOLAR TSUNAMI a couple of day ago. Looking forward to see how the particles from this eruption will affect the electric grid of many countries.
2860 is one of the largest and most complicated sunspot of this solar cycle. It take the shape of a L and each straight portion consist of several small sunspots. Very interesting to watch and see how it transform with time.
superiorstream
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Re: Solar cycle 25

Post by superiorstream »

In Cak
2859 show up as a single spot surrounded by a C shaped bright region.,
While 2860 show up as a L shaped bright region with darker spots in each straight region. However both the northern and southern belt also has a extra bright region
superiorstream
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Re: Solar cycle 25

Post by superiorstream »

In Ha 0.5A BANDWIDTH
What's appear as bright region in cak also appear
as bright region in Ha. However several filaments also showed up in both belts
And near the edge of the sun where 2860 is, A NICE PROMINENCE WITH THE SHAPE OF A PROJECTILE SHOWS UP.
superiorstream
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Re: Solar cycle 25

Post by superiorstream »

Today sun... 29 aug 2021
In 540nm
2860 actually shrink in size.... from a L shape to a
I shape with only 2 dotted small sunspot in the horizontal portion., and as usual sunspot 2859 is a tiny spot with its penumbra portion shrinking to hardly visible.
In cak
3 region of activities with the southern belt one revolving out of sight.
In Ha
As in Cak. No big prominence. A few filaments in both the northern and southern belt.
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yltansg
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Re: Solar cycle 25

Post by yltansg »

Hi Mr Chia,

Glad you caught Sunspot AR2860. According to Spaceweather.com it has a 'beta-gamma' magnetic field that harbors energy for strong M-class solar flares.

This is how it looks today. The image was from Eduardo, Argentina.
Image

Hope to catch it before it leaves to the other side.

Alfred
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