The Dutch Observatory

The Sun’s activity is getting low again with only 5 C-class flares in the last two days.  Sunspot area has also gone down dramatically and is now only 220 millionths between the 7 named Active Regions.  I got the mounting bracket back for my PST-CaK, so today, the Calcium-K PST came out again in addition to the Ha SolarMax40.  Today’s images a full disk image of the full Solar Disk with some beautiful prominences everywhere in Ha, and a close up of AR2348 in CaK.

The Sun on 2015-05-17 in moderate seeing.   Activity on the Sun is very low with no flares in the last two days, although there are a good number of active regions.  33 Sunspots today with a total Sunspot area of 590 millionths.  The nice prom from the 13th is gone but you can see it a s a filament (dark curved sliver) on the surface of the North Eastern Limb of the Sun.  Very cool !!

Medium activity today on the Sun  with 10 Active Regions, and 69 spots covering 910 millionths. 10 C-class flares were reported in the last 24 hours.  AR2339, although decaying, is still big at 670 and its 51 sunspots only created 2 flares.  The new firecracker is probably going to be 2345 which showed today 4 C-class flares of which one was a C-9.2.  A very nice prominence showed at the NE limb, 53,000 miles high and 152,000 miles wide as seen from Earth.

The Sun is pretty active today.  18 C-class flares in the last two days, 8 active regions with 51 spots covering 1060 millionth.  AR2339 is decaying from its max on the 9th.  However it is still very interesting.  Today a full disk image and a close up of AR2339.

Another clear morning with stable skies.  The Sun has been gaining activity and shows 7 Active Regions with 61 Sun spots.  Total sunspot area today is 1080 millionth, a big difference from last week.  Total C-flares in the last two days 18 of which 14 originated in AR2339.  A great Sun to look at.  Today a full disk image and close ups in Ha and white light/Continuum of AR2339.

May 5th we retrieved the pinhole camera from East Newton Elementary School.  Everyone was excited to find out what the camera had recorded between February 1st and May 5th.  Here is the result.  One can nicely see the path of the Sun through the sky, the sunny and cloudy days, as well as some scattered clouds.  The period started off with a period of clouds.  (See lower dark end of arcs at right).  Thanks to Mrs. Thompson for arranging for us to bring this project to her school.

Clear skies with great seeing for most of my observing session.  The Sun is becoming a lot more active compared to a few days ago.  18 Flares with several M-Class flares and even an X2.7, a count of 45 spots with a total area of 370 millionth.  Today a full disk image with the super large filament and a close up of AR2335 and 2338 in continuum filtered white light.

Another nice day with a broken cloud deck.  The seeing was relative good and the sun looks great with that large filament stretching across.  Today the Sun shows 4 active regions with a total of 27 spots covering 300 millionth.  The Sun also produced 11 C-class flares of which one was a C8 flare.  Today again a full disk image and a close up of AR2335.

A Clear Sky Sunday morning.  The Sun became more active a bit and AR2335 contains now 15 spots covering an area of 220 millionth and released 5 C-class flares in the last day.  Also the huge filament stretching almost across the Sun is beautiful.  Today a full disk image that nicely shows the filament(s) and a close up of AR2335 and one of the filaments.

Saturday May 2nd was Solar Outreach day at Anna Ruby Falls in Helen GA.  A great event, but I did have the time to make one image of the Sun.  The Sun has been very quiet in the last two days with only one C-class flare.  Today we had only one active region AR2335 with three small sunspots with a total size of 70 millionth.  However, the filament that is stretching across the surface of the Sun makes up for the lack of regions, spots and flares.  It is beautiful and knowing that the diameter of the Sun is 865,000 miles, one can easily imagine how large they are.  Today a full disk image of the Sun with AR2335.