Solar Section

July 31, 2017

The Great American Eclipse Archive

The ALPO Solar Section has setup a folder in its archive for images made during the Great American Eclipse on August 21, 2017. The folder is a sub-folder in Carrington Rotation 2194 and can also be found at the following URL:
http://www.alpo-astronomy.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=104414 .
Any observer who has made an image of the event, be it the total eclipse, or partial, can submit the image(s) to ALPO by emailing it to:
solarimages@alpo-astronomy.org . We are asking that the images are identified with the observer’s name, the exact time in Universal Time, and location, from where the image was taken. Staff will upload the images into the archive where they are available for analysis. Please note that the size of the images is limited to <2500 pixels wide and we prefer images in the 200k – 300kB file size. However, larger images are also accepted. We hope that many will make use of this option to document the Great American Eclipse of 2017!
The Solar Section Team.

July 17, 2017

A short Summary of Carrington Rotation 2191

Carrington Rotation 2191 covered the time period from 2017-05-26 2030 UT – 2017-06-23 0117 UT.
The rotation showed a decrease in Active Regions compared to previous rotations, and so did the number of submissions. 298 Submissions were added to the archive at the time of this summary, and can be viewed in ALPO’s Solar Archive for CR2191:

http://www.alpo-astronomy.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=101690

The rotation started 2017-05-26 with 1 Active Region and a Wolf number of 22. The total Active Region Area was 170 millionths. During the rotation we could observe 5 regions, AR2659 – AR2664. Please note that AR2660 was a short lived region during the previous rotation. The highest Wolf Number of 35 was reached on the last day of the rotation on 2017-06-23, while AR2659 was the largest Active Region of the rotation at the 3rd day of the rotation on 5/29 with 220 millionths. The rotation had a period of 4 spotless days from 6/10 till 6/13 as well as a single day on 5/31, bringing the total spotless days since Solar Maximum to 77. The rotation ended with three Active Regions, AR2662, 63 and 64, having a Total Active Region Area of 120 millionths and a Wolf Number of 35.

For this Rotation we would like to feature three images by three of our observers, Jon O’Neil, Randy Tatum, and Dave Tyler. Thanks to them, as well as all other contributors, for another great rotation. Please take a look at their images by clicking on the link above, leading to our archive for CR2191.
Clear Skies,
Theo Ramakers
Acting Assistant Coordinator, the ALPOSS

June 05, 2017

A short Summary of Carrington Rotation 2190

Carrington Rotation 2190 covered the time period from 2017-04-29 1509 UT – 2017-05-26 2030 UT.
Solar Activity decreased during the rotation, and so did the number of submissions. 325 Submissions were added to the archive at the time of this summary, and can be viewed in ALPO’s Solar Archive for CR2190:

http://www.alpo-astronomy.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=100739

During the rotation we could observe 9 regions. The rotation started on 2017-04-29 with 3 Active Regions, a Wolf number of 35, and a total Active Region Area of 100 millionths which was the highest Total Active Region Area for the rotation. The highest Wolf Number of 55 was reached towards the end of the rotation on 2017-05-23. The rotation had a period of 7 spotless days from 5/10 till 5/16, bringing the total spotless days since Solar Maximum to 72. Two areas contended for the largest daily area of 80 millionths, AR2664 on May 5th and AR2659 on 5/26. The rotation ended with one Active Region, AR2659, having a Total Active Region Area of 80 millionths and a Wolf Number of 19. Besides the number of Spotless days, the low Active Region Areas, and the low number of spots compared to the previous rotation, CR2190 included three very short lived regions lasting only 1 (AR2657), 2 (AR2660), and 4 (AR2655) days only.

For this Rotation we would like to feature three images by three of our observers, Guilherme Grassmann, Christian Viladrich and Howard Eskildson. Thanks to them, as well as all other contributors, for another great rotation. Please take a look at their images by clicking on the link above, leading to our archive for CR2190.
Clear Skies,
Theo Ramakers
Acting Assistant Coordinator, the ALPOSS

May 18, 2017

A short Summary of Carrington Rotation 2189

Carrington Rotation 2189 covered the time period from 2017-04-02 0848 UT – 2017-04-29 1509 UT.
The increased solar activity created an increase in the number of submitted reports and images which totaled 517 at the time of this summary, and can be viewed in ALPO’s Solar Archive for CR2189:

http://www.alpo-astronomy.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=98896

During the rotation we could observe 9 regions. The rotation started on 2017-04-02 with 4 Active Regions and a total Active Region Area of 740 millionths, and Wolf number of 79. That day the Sun produced several flares, including 2 flares which were the cause of R2 alerts. (>M5.0 flare) The 2 flares were registered as M5.3 and an M5.7, and both originated in AR2644. AR2145 continued to grow to its maximum of 700 millionths which it reached 2 days later on 2017-04-04, which coincided with the maximum Total Active Region Area of the rotation at 1270 millionths, and a max. Wolf Number for the Sun of 97. The Total Active Region Area for the rotation was interrupted briefly twice for a total of 3 spotless days, bringing the total spotless days since Solar maximum to 65. The rotation ended with a Total Active Region Area of 110 millionths and a Wolf Number of 23.

For this Rotation we would like to feature three images by three of our observers, Guilherme Grassmann, who caught the end of an M2.3 flare in AR2644 on April 2nd, Theo Ramakers, showing a WL image of AR2645 when it was at its maximum size of 700 millionths on April 4th, as well as a very nice image of a prominence by Raffaello Braga from Italy on April 3rd. Thanks to them, as well as all other contributors, for another great rotation. Please take a look at their images by clicking on the link above, leading to our archive for CR2189.
Clear Skies,
Theo Ramakers
Acting Assistant Coordinator, the ALPOSS

April 12, 2017

A short Summary of Carrington Rotation 2188

Carrington Rotation 2188 covered the time period from 2017-03-06 0126 UT – 2017-04-02 0848 UT.
328 Reports and images were submitted and can be viewed in ALPO’s Solar Archive for CR2188:

http://www.alpo-astronomy.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=98139

During the rotation we could observe 6 regions, half of which were only visible for about three days or less and two of them did not make it above 10 millionths. The rotation did start with a re-emergence of AR2141 for one day, with a size of 10 millionths, followed with a spotless streak of 15 days. The largest region, AR2645, reached its maximum area of 380 millionths on the last full day of the rotation on April 1st. This day also marks the maximum for the rotation of the Total Daily Active Region Area which was at 580 millionths while the Wolf Number maxed out at 79. The rotation did have a total of 16 spotless days, bringing the total spotless days since Solar maximum to 62.

For this Rotation we would like to feature three images by three of our observers, James Kevin Ty, David Teske, and Howard Eskildsen. Thanks to them, as well as all other contributors, for another great rotation. Please take a look at their images by clicking on the above link leading to our archive.
Theo Ramakers
Acting Assistant Coordinator, the ALPOSS

April 13, 2017

“Tornados” on the Sun

“Tornados” on the Sun happen many times, but you need some luck to observe one, and even more luck to capture an animation. ALPO member Theo Ramakers had this luck on March 3 2011 during his normal Solar imaging session. When observing a nice heart shaped prominence at the Eastern Limb, an area which were to become Active Region 1166, he noticed that the plasma was moving rapidly and changing the shape. His instinct told him to start a one hour imaging session, in which he captured 54 images between 15:18 and 16:19 UT. After processing, he built an animated gif, showing the rotation which you can see here.
http://www.alpo-astronomy.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=13571
In order to imagine the speed at which it rotates, please note that the top of the tornado is almost 60,000 miles wide and the animation captures 1 hour of rotation. It is also interesting to note that the base of the tornado shifts during the one hour and seems to “walk” the surface of the active region. Below three images, the first one is a composite of 6 of the 54 images taken, showing the movement of the plasma, the second gives a view of the tornado against an inverted full solar disk image of the Sun, and the last one an image of NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory AIA camera at 304 nm, twenty minutes before the capturing of the animation images was started, and the “tornado” clearly can be seen already.

April 6, 2017

The 2017 Solar Eclipse – Part 2

Dr. M. D. Reynolds continues his discussion on the Great American Eclipse. This second part was published in the 2016 Spring edition of ALPO’s Journal, “the Strolling Astronomer”. Click the following link, or right click the link to download the pdf for off line reading .
Part 2 – The 21 August 2017 Total Solar Eclipse

March 30, 2017

A short Summary of Carrington Rotation 2187

Carrington Rotation 2187 covered the time period from 2017-02-06 1724 UT – 2017-03-06 0126 UT.
315 Reports and images were submitted and can be viewed in ALPO’s Solar Archive for CR2187:

http://www.alpo-astronomy.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=97088

During the rotation we could observe 10 regions, of which half of them were only visible for about three days or less. The largest region, AR2638, reached its maximum area of 150 millionths for two days on February 23 and 24. The Total daily Active Region Area of 210 millionths reached its maximum on March 1st while the Wolf Number maxed out at 55 on March 3rd and 4th. The rotation did have two spotless days on February 9th and March 5th, bringing the total spotless days since Solar maximum to 47. In addition, on February 26th, South America was treated to a partial eclipse and three observers did submit images.

For this Rotation we would like to feature three images of the partial eclipse by three of our observers, Guilherme Grassmann, German Morales, and Avani Soares. Thanks to them, as well as all other contributors, for another great rotation. Please take a look at their images by clicking on the above link leading to our archive.
Theo Ramakers
Acting Assistant Coordinator, the ALPOSS

March 4, 2017

The 2017 Solar Eclipse – Part 1

In preparation for the Great American Solar Eclipse on August 21 2017, the ALPO Solar Section will publish a number of articles which were originally written by Dr. M. D. Reynolds for ALPO’s Journal, “the Strolling Astronomer”. The first article was published about a year ago in the Winter 2016 issue. To get up to date for this exciting event, follow the articles as they are published here. Click the following link, or right click the link to download the first pdf for off line reading .
The 21 August 2017 Total Solar Eclipse – Part 1

February 12, 2017

A short Summary of Carrington Rotation 2186

Carrington Rotation 2186 covered the time period from 2017-01-10 0913 UT – 2017-02-06 1724 UT and is our first rotational gallery for 2017.
So far 331 reports and images were submitted for our archive, and can be viewed in ALPO’s Solar Archive for CR2185:

http://www.alpo-astronomy.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=96049

The rotation did start with 3 spotless days. During the rotation we could observe 9 regions of which three did exist for about two days or less. In fact one of them, AR2630 appeared and disappeared almost immediately. The largest region, AR2629, reached its maximum area of 220 millionths on January 26, the same day the Total Active Region Area for the Sun reached its maximum of 410 millionths. The Wolf number reached its maximum of 55 a day earlier on January 25.
Counting the three spotless days at the beginning of the rotation, the total spotless days since Solar maximum increased to 45.

For this Rotation we would like to feature again a few drawings submitted by three of our observers, Monty Leventhal, Joe Gianninoto, and Tony Broxton. Thanks to them as well as all other contributors for another great rotation. Please take a look at their images by clicking on the above link leading to our archive.
Your Solar Section Team,

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