Solar Section        

August 23, 2010

CR2099 Carrington Rotation Released

Good Evening,
This Rotation showed Sunspot Groups AR11087 to AR11095. AR11092 showed several C class flares and Auroral sightings, deep into the mid US states. Obervers for this period were: Gema Araujo (GAR),Howard Eskildsen(HES), Jerry Fryer (JFR), Monty Leventhal (MLV), Tony Broxton (TBR),Susan Delaney (SDL) Erica Rix (ERI), John Rousom (JRO), R.J.Rienks (RJR). There were 162 images in white light, h-alpha, Ca-K. Also sketches of the sun in white light and H-alpha.

This can be found at : https://alpo-astronomy.org/solarblog/ under recent observations CR2099.

You will notice that the nomenclature has been changed to take in the date, observer and how many images were sent in by that observer. All information on the images are on the images. This process still takes several hours, but less labour intensive than past archiving which took between 10-15 hours a rotation.

I hope to have the balance of the Rotations up within the next month. Thank you for your patience.

Enjoy

Kim Hay
Alpo Solar Coordinator & Archivist

August 14, 2010

First Solar Radiation Storm of Solar Cycle 24

Official Space Weather Advisory issued by NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center
Boulder, Colorado, USA

SPACE WEATHER ADVISORY BULLETIN #10- 2
2010 August 14 at 05:04 p.m. MST (2010 August 14 1704 UTC)

**** FIRST SOLAR RADIATION STORM OF SOLAR CYCLE 24 ****

On Saturday, August 14, 2010 a small solar flare erupted on the Sun at
about 6am EDT. Associated with this flare was a coronal mass ejection
(CME) that was partially directed towards the Earth. Also associated
with this event was a S1 or minor solar radiation storm on the http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/NOAAscales/. “> NOAA
Space Weather ScalesThe only impacts expected for a solar radiation storm of this magnitude are
minor impacts to HF radio communications in the polar regions. However, this is the first solar radiation storm of Solar Cycle 24 and the first solar radiation storm since December of 2006.

At this time, the solar radiation storm has subsided below threshold levels. However, oscillation around this threshold is possible for the next several hours. Subsequent significant activity is not expected
but there may be some level of geomagnetic storming on or around August 17th and 18th from the coronal mass ejection associated with this event. Initial observations of the coronal mass ejection direction and
velocity do not indicate a high likelihood of significant geomagnetic storming but the Space Weather Prediction Center will continue to monitor this event as it unfolds.

Data used to provide space weather services are contributed by NOAA, USAF, NASA, NSF, USGS, the International Space Environment Services and other observatories, universities, and institutions. More
information is available at SWPC’s Web site http://swpc.noaa.gov

July 11, 2010

AR1087 producing C-class flares

AR1087 has been producing C-class flares for over 24 hours, and the group seems to be becoming more active. As shown in the images by Howard Eskildsen in Ca K and Jamey Jenkins in white light.

AR1087

AR1087

For more interesting information on AR1087 see SOHO.
There is another spot forming near the equator today, but as of yet it is not numbered. kh 071110

July 10, 2010

solar Dynamics Observatory

Observing the sun as we do on earth in many wavelengths has evolved over the years. We now have the opprotunity to observe the sun in a new way from the Solar Dynamics Observatory. Go to the following site and view the sun in many wavelengths. Put in the date you wish to view, along with the wavelength, and view the daily image.

The SDO was launched on February 11, 2010 .

July 3, 2010

Slight Light Bridge

Member Jamey Jenkins imaged on the morning of July 3 the sunspot AR1084′s umbra slightly splitting, forming a Light Bridge. Catching these are quite rare. To read up on the Light Bridge please read the Guidelines for the Observations of White Light Phenomena located on the solar front page.

Slight Light Bridge

June 18, 2010

Sunspot Carrington Rotation 2097 – Howard Eskildsen

Sunspot Summary Carrington Rotation 2097
  
Start date: 2010/05/19, 23:50 UT,  End date:  2010/06/16, 04:43 UT, per http:bass2000.obspm.fr/ephem.php?lang=en
Notes:  The Sun had been without spots for 11 days at the start of this rotation, but spots returned the second day of the rotation. 
Spots 1076, 1078, 1080, and 1081 achieved “D” classification (leading and following spots with penumbrae, < 10° length).  The last
day of the rotation was again without spots.  
Dates below expressed as yymmdd (Universal Date)

Sunspot Location Date Date
Number First Seen Appeared Last seen Comments
1072 SE Quadrant 10521 100529 Appeared in a fresh, compact plage that was just visible the day prior. Itenlarged, then regress to Hsx and remained stable until rotating from view.
1073 NE Quadrant 100529 100531 Appeared in plage that had been visible since 100526. Faded from view.
1074 NW Quadrant 100529 100531 Plage visible day before. Rotated from view, remained small
1075 Southern 100529 100601 Plage visible day before. Remained small, faded from view
1076 Southern 100601 100607 Plage visible day before, grew rapidly. Following spot of group enlarged to proiminence on 100603, Dho at that time. Was fading as it rotated from view.
1077 NW Quadrant 100605 100605 Small, short-lived spot
1078 SW Quadrant 100608 100611 Grew rapidly to Dsi spot, rotated from view.
1079 SW Quadrant 100609 10611 Small, short-lived spot.
1080 SW Quadrant 100610 100614 Developed rapidly to Dai, some C and M class flares. Rotated from view.
1081 NW Quadrant 100611 100613 Small Bxo spot at first, enlarged to Dro before rotating from view.
Plage NE Quadrant 100614 10614 Pore in compact plage lasted but one day.

CR2097

May 31, 2010

Sunspot Summary Carrington Rotation 2096 – Howard Eskildsen

Sunspot Summary Carrington Rotation 2096
Start date: 2010/04/22, 18:15 UT, End date: 2010/05/19, 23:50 UT, per http:bass2000.obspm.fr/ephem.php?lang=en

Notes: The Sun had been without spots for 8 days at the start of this rotation, and except for a pore was blank for its first 5 days.
Over the next 11 days there were 8 small spots and a single blank day. The final 11 days were again without spots, and solar activity
continued at a very low level.

Dates below expressed as yymmdd (Universal Date)
Sunspot Location Date Date
Number First Seen Appeared Last seen Comments
Pore NE Quadrant 100427 100427 Pore in fresh plage. Lasted less than one day.
1063 NE Quadrant 100428 100428 Appeared SE of plage associated with yesterday’s pore and GONG
Reappeared 100503 100505 magnetograms reveal it to be in a magnetic region distinct from yesterday’s pore. Faded from view on 100429, reappeared on 100503 and rotated from view on 100505.
1064 NE Quadrant 100430 100502 Bipolar spot per SpaceWeather.com when it first appeared. I was not able to observe it until the next day and only a single spot remained which faded from view later.
1065 SW Quadrant 100503 100504 I could not see spots on my photos, but NOAA listed it.
1066 Southern 100503 100504 Small, short-lived spot
1067 NE Limb 100501 100506 Rotated into view with at least 2 small spots but not numbered for 2 days. Faded from view by 100507
1068 SE Quadrant 100503 100504 Rotated into view, short lived, faded from view next day
1069 NW Quadrant 100504 100508Small little spot eventually rotated out of view
1070 Northern 100506 100506 I was unable to observe on the only day it was visible.

April 22, 2010

Solar Dynamics Observatory

The Sun performs for SDO – AIA
Soon after the instruments opened their doors, the Sun began performing for SDO with this beautiful prominence eruption. This AIA data is from March 30, 2010, showing a wavelength band that is centered around 304 Å. This extreme ultraviolet emission line is from singly ionized Helium, or He II, and corresponds to a temperature of approx. 50,000 degrees Celsius. The second movie shows a prominence with larger field of view.

Solar observing in more detail…..stay tuned.

March 7, 2010

CR2093 Rotation by Howard Eskildsen

Historic CR 2093 completed its cycle with spots present every day of the rotation.  I started writing my CR reports with CR 2060 in August, 2007, and this is the first report I have done that did not have a spot-free day.  Cycle 24 has arrived, yet strangely, there was a solitary Cycle 23 spot during this rotation.
Regards,
Howard
 

CR2093

http:bass2000.obspm.fr/ephem.php?lang=en.  Photo Data: North up, East left, Date: yymmdd, hh:mm universal time

February 11, 2010

NASA successfully launches a new eye on the Sun

Excellent News, the sun will never look the same again.

Kim

Feb. 11, 2010

Dwayne C. Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Don Savage
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-8982
donald.savage@nasa.gov

RELEASE: 10-040

NASA SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES A NEW EYE ON THE SUN

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO,
lifted off Thursday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Launch
Complex 41 on a first-of-a-kind mission to reveal the sun’s inner
workings in unprecedented detail. The launch aboard an Atlas V rocket
occurred at 10:23 a.m. EST.

The most technologically advanced of NASA’s heliophysics spacecraft,
SDO will take images of the sun every 0.75 seconds and daily send
back about 1.5 terabytes of data to Earth — the equivalent of
streaming 380 full-length movies.

“This is going to be sensational,” said Richard R. Fisher, director of
the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “SDO is
going to make a huge step forward in our understanding of the sun and
its effects on life and society.”

The sun’s dynamic processes affect everyone and everything on Earth.
SDO will explore activity on the sun that can disable satellites,
cause power grid failures, and disrupt GPS communications. SDO also
will provide a better understanding of the role the sun plays in
Earth’s atmospheric chemistry and climate.

SDO is the crown jewel in a fleet of NASA missions to study our sun.
The mission is the cornerstone of a NASA science program called
Living With A Star. This program will provide new understanding and
information concerning the sun and solar system that directly affect
Earth, its inhabitants and technology.

The SDO project is managed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Md. NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center
managed the payload integration and launch.

For launch coverage, briefing materials, and multimedia, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/news/briefing-materials-20100209.html

For more information about the SDO mission, visit:

http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov
and
http://www.nasa.gov/sdo