December 23 2021 Observations. Three Flares observed today!

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DeepSolar64
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December 23 2021 Observations. Three Flares observed today!

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Session time is from 16:30 to 19:00 UTC. Clear skies. The seeing is average to just above average at session beginning falling to below average by 17:45UT and back to average by 19:00UT. The temperature is 45F ( 7.2C ) at session beginning and 54F ( 12.2C ) at sessions end.


Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS. 32x, 50x and 64X ( Ha )
Today I got thirteen active area plage disturbances on the Ha chromospheric disk. The wealth of detail is wonderfully seen in the 90mm Coronado SolarMax. I see three side by side interacting plages in the SW quadrant. From west to east they are AR12907, AR12908 and AR12909. It's a bit hard to tell where one ends and the other begins! AR12907 shows two spots easily and the largest spot has the plage fanning out east of it. Around 17:40UT I noticed a brightening of the plage just SE of the largest spot of AR12907. GONG images later backed me up confirming it to be a small solar flare! Just a short time later around 17:55UT I noticed a thin brightening area in AR12908. It too was a solar flare as easily confirmed a few minutes later by examining GONG Ha imagery. After the flare I could even see the dark ejecta again as confirmed by GONG Ha images! Just to the right of the flare area I noticed a bright arc of light. I really have no idea what it is. A part of the plage? A post-flare coronal loop bright enough to see against the disk ( doubtful ). An area about to pop a flare? I have no idea. GONG Cerro Tololo picks it up as well though I see it better visually since the active regions on GONG are a bit overexposed. I can see a spot in AR12908 as well. AR12909 shows a spot, thin vertically-oriented filament and sparse plage. Southeast of these three active regions are two easy filaments that show some detail within them. They actually show evidence of height above the chromosphere looking almost 3D! To the east of these systems lie 5 plages in a group. AR12917 in the SE corner of the group is the easiest to see. A filament bisects it running south of a spot located there. AR12913 is the SW corner, AR12914 is the NW corner and it has a visible filament. AR12912 is the NE corner with it's sparse plage and spot. The hardest to see is the center unnumbered plage. It's filament is actually easier to see than it is! The far SE shows AR12916 with it's big spot and smaller eastern companion. The plage butts up right against the west side of the smaller spot. The first of the three flares today is seen just SW of the larger spot in AR12916 at around 16:55UT. It lasted no more than a couple of minutes and was gone. Again seen before noticed on GONG images but verified by them.

The NE quadrant shows three plages in a row. AR12918 is the easternmost of the three and shows two spots connected by plage. Just west of it is a fainter unnamed plage. The westernmost of the three is AR12915. I can see a small spot with a close look with plage to it's west. The NW quadrant shows the plage of AR12911. A filament lies between AR12915 and AR12911 being closer to the latter.

Staying in double-stack I only noticed two prominences on the limb. One on the NW limb that looks like a Dodo bird! This silhouette is especially visible in the GONG images! I also see a small prominence on the SE limb.

The mottles cover the disc and are easy to see.



Celestron NexStar 102GT w/Altair wedge and Baader 540nm filter. 55x, 62.5x and 110x ( WL )
At 540nm I can see 9 spot bearing active regions on the photosphere. AR12907 is a truly interesting sight. The westernmost spot shows both penumbra and umbra. The easternmost part of the penumbra looks detached!! Two strings of small spots/pores run between the western spot and it's bipolar eastern companion. The eastern spot also shows umbra/penumbra structure. I can see some mottling in the penumbrae of these systems. AR12908 is seen as a scattered patch of small spots and pores. To the east of AR12908, AR12909 is seen as three spots. One shows evidence of a penumbra. AR12917 is seen as a grouping of 9 spots. To the NW AR12912 is seen as at first a single spot but high power shows it to be two close together. AR12916 in the far SE is a splendid sight. Two spots surrounded by faculae. The faculae around the easternmost spot is especially easy to see but even with this I never could clearly see the " bright ring " with certainty. The larger spot shows is umbra and penumbra easily but even then I could only see a slight mottling in the penumbra. I did notice a bit of a projection on the penumbra to the south. The faculae is visible around the big western spot but not near as easily as it is around it's eastern companion.

AR12918 in the NE shows two spots easily. Both show umbra/penumbra structure. I can see a couple of pores just east of the westernmost smaller spot. To the east of AR12918 near the limb SDOHMIc images show a elongated patch of faculae. I didn't catch sight of it at all. AR12915 is visible only as a couple of small spots. AR12911 in the NW quadrant is visible only as a single tiny spot.

The fine solar granulation is easily visible but the seeing is not quite good enough to allow me to see the individual granules themselves.


Merry Christmas Everyone!


James



ASappSeeing_GONGHa_SDOHMIc_12-23-21.JPG
ASappSeeing_GONGHa_SDOHMIc_12-23-21.JPG (186.73 KiB) Viewed 312 times
GONGCerroTololoHa_AR12916flare_16.35_16.55_17.05UT_12-23-21.JPG
GONGCerroTololoHa_AR12916flare_16.35_16.55_17.05UT_12-23-21.JPG (546.48 KiB) Viewed 312 times
GONGCerroTololoHa_AR12907-08flares_17.45_17.55_18.05UT_12-23-21.JPG
GONGCerroTololoHa_AR12907-08flares_17.45_17.55_18.05UT_12-23-21.JPG (488.21 KiB) Viewed 312 times
SDOHMIc_SM_ActiveRegions_12-23-21.JPG
SDOHMIc_SM_ActiveRegions_12-23-21.JPG (95.25 KiB) Viewed 312 times


Though small, B or C class, the flares were the highlight of the day!


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
Celestron AstroMaster Alt/Az Mount
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
Meade Coronado AZS Alt/Az Mount
Astro-Tech AT72EDII with Altair solar wedge
Celestron NexStar 102GT with Altair solar wedge
Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
Sky-Watcher AZGTI Alt-Az GoTo mount
Cameras: ZWO ASI178MM, PGR Grasshopper, PGR Flea
Lunt, Coronado, TeleVue, Orion and Meade eyepieces

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Re: December 23 2021 Observations. Three Flares observed today!

Post by Ivan »

James, this is an amazing description! so much has happened in 2.5 hours of observation, and the sun is so active. I am glad that you managed to see all this, we have clouds and snow.
Merry Christmas!

Ivan


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Re: December 23 2021 Observations. Three Flares observed today!

Post by Montana »

Thanks James, you were very lucky to be able to watch flaring in action, it always amazes me to see them. It looks like there were a scattering of C class flares during your observation :hamster: https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/sol ... lares.html

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Alexandra


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Re: December 23 2021 Observations. Three Flares observed today!

Post by rigel123 »

Sounds like a great session James!


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Re: December 23 2021 Observations. Three Flares observed today!

Post by EGRAY_OBSERVATORY »

Excellent observations James,
on that exciting session..

Cheers
Terry


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Re: December 23 2021 Observations. Three Flares observed today!

Post by DeepSolar64 »

It was truly an exciting session and one that I didn't have to be rushed so I had time to wait on and observe the flares. The Coronado SMII90 proved it's worth!!

James


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
Celestron AstroMaster Alt/Az Mount
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
Meade Coronado AZS Alt/Az Mount
Astro-Tech AT72EDII with Altair solar wedge
Celestron NexStar 102GT with Altair solar wedge
Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
Sky-Watcher AZGTI Alt-Az GoTo mount
Cameras: ZWO ASI178MM, PGR Grasshopper, PGR Flea
Lunt, Coronado, TeleVue, Orion and Meade eyepieces

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