March 20 2023. Spring Equinox!

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DeepSolar64
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March 20 2023. Spring Equinox!

Post by DeepSolar64 »

My visual session time was from 15:04 until 15:55 UTC. The skies are clear with below average seeing and the temperature is 38F ( 3.3C ) at 15:30 UTC.


Orion 70mm Solar Telescope. 25x and 50x. ( WLC )
I can see twelve regions of activity on the photosphere but this makes it sound more impressive than it actually is. Most of it is really small spot groups or faculae from dying out groups. However four of these are nice areas. Five of these are in the northern hemisphere with three of these being numbered on the SolarMonitor images. Six are seen in the southern hemisphere. SM has them all labeled.

AR13260 is seen in the NE quadrant as a structured spot with a pore just south of it. Both are surrounded by faculae. I can also see faculae SE of the region, very near the limb. Could this be a new system I wonder? East of AR13260 lies AR13258. I can see it only as three pores in a line. Two are a bit easier to see than the third which is in the east of the line. Just NW of AR13258 lies a tiny hazy area. I can barely see it at 50x. It's a small group of very tiny pores that I cannot resolve. Well south of AR13258 lies a single lone pore. Near the NW limb I see two patches of faculae. One of these belongs to AR13252 but the SM image doesn't clearly show which facula it is since it is labeled between the two. I see no spots or pores here.

I see a large scattered patch of faculae near the SW limb. SolarMonitor images show it to be what remains of the complex of AR13249-50-51. I see one large pore here. I see nothing of AR13255 to the NE on the equator. The triple complex of AR13256-57-59 looks splendid in the SE quadrant. AR13256 shows itself as a nice structured spot showing it's umbra and penumbra easily. Five pores can be seen in it's immediate vicinity with a couple of more tiny difficult ones further SE that are visible during moments of better seeing. The center of the complex shows a small spot and a pore with the pore being difficult to see. The two close together spots of AR13257 show their umbra penumbra form easily. AR13259 shows itself as an E-W grouping of spots and pores surrounded by faculae. The two easternmost spots are the most prominent. In fact all of these active regions show visible faculae.

The fine granulation of the solar disc is visible but is not overly apparent.


Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS. 16x and 25x. ( 656.28nm )
I can see eight active regions in the Ha chromosphere today. Three in the northern hemisphere with at least two being labeled and five in the southern hemisphere with four of these showing number labels.

AR13260 in the NE quadrant shows itself as a spot and subtile plage with filaments surrounding it. A larger filament is seen well to the NW. Well west of AR13260, AR13258 appears as a bright etching in the chromosphere! It's beautiful to behold. Looking at the SpaceWeatherLive GOES satellite X-Ray graph I see a slow rolling curve that may indicate a slow-blow C-Class flare. It looks like it may have peaked at C4.4. Despite the low magnitude it looked quite impressive! An easy line of broken filaments lies just N-NW of this bright etching. More filaments are seen across the CLM from AR13258 and beyond that a double plage that may be associated with AR13252.

GONG Cerro Tololo Ha shows five tiny plage disturbances in the SW quadrant but I could see only two of them. A tiny one in the far SW above a couple of filaments and NNE of it another tiny one that is associated with AR13255. This one is at or on the equator. These two were not easy to find/see. The AR13256=57-59 complex in the SE quadrant are easy to see as three bright interconnected plages with at least four spots visible. Several filaments are seen within the region with the most prominent being just east of the spot of AR13256. Another fairly easy one is seen near the limb east of AR13259. A couple of filaments are also seen well north of AR13259.

The mottling of the chromosphere is easily seen.


Happy Spring Equinox!!

James


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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: March 20 2023. Spring Equinox!

Post by Montana »

Thanks James, the spotty side is coming :)

Alexandra


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Re: March 20 2023. Spring Equinox!

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Montana wrote: Mon Mar 20, 2023 6:02 pm Thanks James, the spotty side is coming :)

Alexandra
Oh, yeah. I thought that too! :lol:


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
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Re: March 20 2023. Spring Equinox!

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Montana wrote: Mon Mar 20, 2023 6:02 pm Thanks James, the spotty side is coming :)

Alexandra
Is the Sun still in its teenage phase?

Cheers. Andrew


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Re: March 20 2023. Spring Equinox!

Post by rigel123 »

Nice report James, that prom on the Western Limb was a dilly too!


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Re: March 20 2023. Spring Equinox!

Post by DeepSolar64 »

rigel123 wrote: Mon Mar 20, 2023 7:16 pm Nice report James, that prom on the Western Limb was a dilly too!
I did see it but it was faint in doublestack. I forgot to enter it in the post!!


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Re: March 20 2023. Spring Equinox!

Post by Petrus »

Nice report, must have been a great session!


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Re: March 20 2023. Spring Equinox!

Post by ffellah »

Thank you for the report James

Franco


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Re: March 20 2023. Spring Equinox!

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Thanks and welcomes, Petrus and Franco.


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
Celestron AstroMaster Alt/Az Mount
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
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Re: March 20 2023. Spring Equinox!

Post by MAURITS »

Thanks for the report James, looks you had a lovely observing day.


Regards,
Maurits

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Re: March 20 2023. Spring Equinox!

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Thanks Maurits. I just completed another. I'll post the results shortly.


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
Celestron AstroMaster Alt/Az Mount
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
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Re: March 20 2023. Spring Equinox!

Post by eroel »

James:
Thanks for the report.
Best regards and beautiful setup.
Eric.


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Re: March 20 2023. Spring Equinox!

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Thanks and you are welcome, Mr. Roel.


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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