May 5, 2021
Summary of CR 2240-2242 Available
ALPO Solar Assistant Coordinator Kim Hay has generated a brief summary report of Carrington Rotations 2240 through 2242. It is available at the following link for your review
Summary of CR 2240-2242 Available
ALPO Solar Assistant Coordinator Kim Hay has generated a brief summary report of Carrington Rotations 2240 through 2242. It is available at the following link for your review
Brief Summary of CR 2239
By Kim Hay
ALPO Solar Assistant Coordinator
Carrington Rotation #2239 (CR2239) started on December 25, 2020 at 22:30 (2020-12-25.9375; 2020.98819; Julian Date 2459209.43874) and ended on January 22, 2021 at 06:35.
The rotation continued with AR2794 & AR2795 taking the show. Even though they were beginning to decay by December 31st, the groups still exhibited stable magnetic fields but failed to generate much activity in the flaring aspect. With the start of the new year solar activity declined, leading to a period of 12 days without any sunspot or group activity. On January 8th SOHO recorded the Sun ejecting a large filament into space past Jupiter, “one of the biggest in years” according to the SpaceWeather.com website.
Things picked up on January 16th with the arrival of group AR2796 in the Southern Hemisphere. It was joined the next day by another new group coming over the limb from the far side, earning its numbered designation as AR2797 on the 18th. January 21st brought us AR2798 which continued its trek across the Sun with AR2797. At the tail end of the cycle groups AR2797 and AR2798 were crackling with C class flares.
Cycle CR2239 seemed to have fewer sunspot groups, closing out with a total of five active regions (AR2794-2798). Interestingly, all of them were located in the Sun’s southern hemisphere.
Thanks to the observers listed below who contributed 168 images and sketches to the ALPO Solar Image Gallery. Their work documenting CR2239 included observations in white light, H-alpha, and Calcium-K. We invite all interested Solar observers to join us on the ALPO Solar groups.io list where recent observation and news can be found. Details on how to subscribe can be found here.
Paul Andrew | Frank Melillo |
Anthony Broxton | John O’Neal |
Vlamir da Silva Junior | Theo Ramakers |
Howard Eskildsen | Randy Tatum |
Guilherme Grassmann | David Teske |
Monty Leventhal | Geert Vandenbulcke |
Ramp Up of Solar Activity Cycle 25
By Theo Ramakers
Brief Summary of CR 2238
By Kim Hay
ALPO Solar Assistant Coordinator
Carrington Sunspot Data for CR2238
Data from SILSO
We invite you to join the A.L.P.O. Solar email list to keep current with all the Solar activity and the efforts of your fellow observers. |
Brief Summary of CR 2237
By Kim Hay
ALPO Solar Assistant Coordinator
CR2237 started on November 1, 2020 at 07:21 UT and ended on November 28 at 14:45 UT.
November started off very low in sunspot numbers with AR2780 and AR2781 producing a C class flare on November 8th. This in turn triggered an auroral display in the upper atmosphere for the Northern hemisphere. By the 12th AR2782 produced a C class flare, and the Stereo A satellite was monitoring two UV hotspots on the backside of the sun which were getting close to appearing
On November 18th new Sunspot AR2783 appeared. On November 20th, this spot produced two long B flares in UV. There was a Northern group AR2784 that showed up briefly on November 22nd. Then the next day saw AR2785 (S23E66, Hsx/alpha) and AR2786 (S16E74 Hsx/alpha), and AR2783 (S22W00, Cso/beta) develop trailer spots with B-class activity. AR2784 (N23E08 Bxo/beta) was stable and quiet. A C class flare was reported from AR2785. The Wilson Effect was seen on images by the SDO and Pete Lawrence (UK). It was also captured in images by ALPO observers Theo Ramakers and Frank J. Melillo (see below).
November 25th revealed two small groups rotating into view that were not yet numbered. Space Weather Prediction Centre reported that “AR2785 is 110 millionths and Cso(Beta) while AR2786 is at 800 millionths and Fko (Beta/Gamma)”. The associated auroral display produced the purple glow known as “Steve” (discovered by Canadians 10 years ago), a river of gas with temperatures of 3,000º C passing through the Earth’s magnetosphere faster than 13,000 miles/hour. In an article at spaceweather.com published November 22nd it appears that “Steve” now has green cannon balls under a sequence of vertical pillars dubbed “the green picket fence”.
As CR2237 was drawing to a close AR2786 was growing larger and producing C class flares on November 26th. Two days later an M class flare came from the backside of the sun originating from spots had not rotated into view yet. AR2786 (beta/gamma) was breaking up with light bridges.
So, all in all a very exciting and interesting month for sunspot and Solar activity. We are definitely in Solar Cycle 25!
Thanks to the following Observer’s who submitted their sketches (S) and digital images (D) which are now archived in the A.L.P.O Solar Gallery for CR2237:
Brief Summary of CR 2236
By Kim Hay
ALPO Solar Assistant Coordinator
CR2236 started on October 5, 2020 at 00:18 UT and ended on November 1 at 07:20 UT.
The uptick in the number of Cycle 25 sunspots that were produced made for an exciting month. Sunspot Numbers for the rotation were AR2274 through AR2279. The graph below shows the daily counts based on data reported by Spaceweather.com and the SILSO World Data Centre – Royal Observatory of Belgium.
There were several CMEs that produced a range of C1 and C4 class flares. On October 28th one CME had enough energy to produce M class flares while exhibiting a Beta-Gamma magnetic field.
On October 26th sunspot AR2778 appeared, initially spanning over 90,000 km. Within 24 hours it grew to 100,000 km in size. As reported by Solar observer Theo Ramakers in his rotation summary report, “Total Active Region Area for AR2776 was 420 millionths with the maximum daily area of 110 millionth on October 19th. AR2778 however, which developed much faster, accounted for 830 millionths for its short appearance in CR2236 of the Total Active Region Area for the Rotation of 2000 millionths.” For those interested in learning how to calculate the millionths of sunspots please reference the following article by Peter Meadows of the BAA available on the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System
Cycle 25 sunspot AR2776 also displayed an “Ellerman Bomb” on October 18th and was captured by both Theo Ramakers and Howard Eskildsen in images they submitted to the ALPO Solar Gallery. Per Wikipedia, an Ellerman Bomb involves “randomly moving filaments as two oppositely charged ion flows meet the Sun’s photosphere.” These are micro flares which are named after Ferdinand Ellerman who studied the Solar Blasts in the early 20th century. Great work by Howard and Theo capturing this event!
Images & Sketches can be found on the Solar ALPO image gallery for CR2236 from the following individuals:
Theo Ramakers
Howard Eskildsen
Frank J. Melillo
Guilherme Grassmann
Geert Vandenbuicke
Monty Leventhal (sketch)
David Teske (sketch)
Carrington Rotation 2235 Reports
Summary of CR2235 (September 7th to October 4, 2020)
By Acting Associate Coordinator – Kim Hay
On September 15th NASA/NOAA stated that Cycle 24 hit rock bottom in December 2019, which meant that we were heading into Cycle 25.
During this rotation there was a very inactive display of sunspot groups or spots. On September 9-10th there was a small area from a Cycle 25 active region that was active but did not produce any sunspots. A proto-sunspot from Cycle 25 showed up on September 14th then dissipated.
September 21st had an active region that rotated into view from the far-side. By September 23rd plage had shown up on the east limb. This area continued across the Sun and showed up in H-alpha and Calcium light as well as in the Magnetogram data until October 4th. There was a sunspot number (AR2273) assigned to this area, but it never produced a visual sunspot group seen in white light.
On September 24th there was a G1-class geomagnetic storm that produced green auroras in the higher latitudes for up to 4 nights. The Sun produced a flare that sent the solar wind towards Earth, impacting on September 29th and generating pink auroras.
The Sun went 34 days with no sunspots during this rotation period.
Thank you to our contributors and observers whose reports were referenced in creating this summary of CR2235: Monty Leventhal, David Teske, Theo Ramakers, Howard Eskildsen, Guilherme Grassmann. All images and sketches can be found in our ALPO Solar Gallery under CR2235.
A Brief Overview of CR2235
By Theo Ramakers
Carrington Rotation CR2235 covered the time period from 2020-09-07 1745 UT – 2020-10-05 0018 UT.
The observations can be viewed in my Solar Archive for CR2235 which can be accessed at: http://ceastronomy.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=51093
The rotation brought us 25 spotless days and ended a spotless streak of 33 days on 9/24, which extended out of the previous rotation. We saw a small and very unstable new region AR2773, which appeared on two days, 9/24 and 9/26, each for less than 24 hours. Although its plage could be followed until it rotated around the Western limb, no spots were recorded for the rest of the rotation. The size of the Active Region was 10 millionths on both days, giving a Total Region Active Region Area of 20 millionth, while the largest Wolf Number of 13 was recorded on 9/25. Overall Solar Activity remained Very Low while the rotation increased the spotless days count since solar maximum to 851 spotless days. Finally, during the period SWPC reported 1 A-class, 19 B class flares, of which 14 happened on 9/21, and one C1.0-class flare. The C-class Flare, was observed on 09/25/2020.
This time I would like to feature some images showing the plage of the old AR2773 on three consecutive days, before it turned to the far side of the Sun.
CR 2234 Summary
By Kim Hay
Acting Assistant Coordinator
Carrington Rotation CR2234 started on 2020-08-11 1150 UT and ended on 2020-09-07 1745 UT.
On July 26th sunspot AR2270 rotated onto the Sun in the northeast and remained on the Sun until August 14th. This group produced a C2 class solar flare from the decaying sunspot.
On August 12th sunspot AR2771, which was in the southern hemisphere group of Solar Cycle 25 regions showing on NASA’s magnetic map, was visually seen on August 13th but gone by August 15th.
August 16th the Sun produced a B1 class flare in the southern hemisphere but no spots were evident.
Sunspot AR2772 showed up August 18th in the northern hemisphere producing a CME that missed Earth on Aug 20th as per NASA’s STEREO A satellite.
On August 28th the Sun produced a minor G1 class geomagnetic storm that produced Arctic auroras with solar winds of 500 km/s hitting the Earth’s atmosphere. Auroras were observed again on August 31st for five straight days.
The Sun then remained blank to the end of CR2234, reflecting very low activity with our Sun still waffling between Cycle 24 and 25.
Images & Sketches can be found on the Solar ALPO image gallery for CR2234 from the following individuals:
Theo Ramakers
Howard Eskildsen
Frank J. Melillo
Guilherme Grassmann
Paul Andrew
Monty Leventhal (sketch)
David Teske (sketch)
Tony Broxton (sketch)
A Short Summary of CR2234
By Theo Ramakers
Carrington Rotation CR2234 covered the time period from 2020-08-11 1150 UT – 2020-09-07 1745 UT.
The observations can be viewed in my Solar Archive for CR2234 which can be accessed at: http://ceastronomy.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=50864
The rotation brought us 21 spotless days, with a spotless streak of 17 days. The rotation showed us 3 named Active Regions AR2770, 71 and 72. AR2770 extended from the previous rotation for another 2 days. Another region which was named AR2771 was visible concurrently with AR2770 for one day. However the new region was short lived with 2 days only. A third region AR2772 was visible for 3 days starting on 08/19/2020. The regions were very small at 10 millionths, with AR2772 being the exception by growing to 20 millionths for one day on 08/20/2020, on which day also the maximum wolf number of 24 was observed. Overall Solar Activity remained Very Low with the total Active Region Area for the rotation measuring only 90 millionths, while the rotation increased the spotless days count since solar maximum to 825 spotless days. Finally, during the period SWPC reported 2 A-class, 13 B class, and no C-class flares. The largest B-Flare, a B3.9 was observed on 08/19/2020.
Even though that solar activity is Very Low, it is also interesting to note that 14 of the last 17 named Active Regions since January 1 of this year were Cycle 25 polarized.
This time I would like to feature some images showing an unnamed, interesting feature that passed by, towards the end of the rotation.
Summaries for Carrington Rotations CR2228-CR2230
By Theo Ramakers
A Short Summary of CR2230
Carrington Rotation CR2230 covered the time period from 2020-04-24 1529 UT – 2020-05-21 2100 UT.
The observations can be viewed in my Solar Archive for CR2230 which can be accessed at: http://ceastronomy.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=49751
The rotation brought us 21 spotless days, with a spotless streak of 20 days which was interrupted for 6 days while showing 4 Active Regions. AR2760 emerged on 4/26/2020 and lasted the entire 6 days with the exception that it disappeared for a short time on 4/29. Another region which was named AR2761 showed only for part of a day one day earlier. All regions were very small at 10 millionths, with AR2761 being the exception by increasing to 20 millionths on 4/30 and 5/1. The maximum Wolf Number of 35 was reached on 5/1 when both AR2760 and 63 were reported with 2 spots each. Overall Solar Activity remained Very Low with a Total Rotation Active Region Area of 100 millionths, while the rotation increased the spotless days count since solar maximum to 759 spotless days. Finally, during the period SWPC reported two A-class, two B class, and no C-class flares.
This time I would like to feature some combination images showing some prominences at the SW rim.
A Short Summary of CR2229
Carrington Rotation CR2229 covered the time period from 2020-03-28 0857 UT – 2020-04-24 1529 UT.
The observations can be viewed in my Solar Archive for CR2229 which can be accessed at: http://ceastronomy.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=49494
The rotation brought us 22 spotless days with a streak of 19 days. We had one Active Region, AR2759, which emerged on 3/31/2020 and lasted for 5 days. The region’s maximum coverage was 30 millionths on April 3 and 4, when it supported 2 and respectively 3 spots. Overall Solar Activity remained Very Low and the rotation increased the spotless days count since solar maximum to 738 spotless days. Finally, during the period SWPC reported three A-class, seven B class and no C-class flares.
At this time, I would like to feature some combination images showing AR2759 in three different wavelengths on three different days.
A Short Summary of CR2228
Carrington Rotation CR2228 covered the time period from 2020-03-01 0126 UT – 2020-03-28 0857 UT.
For two days on March 9th and the 10th, the rotation did bring a new active region AR2758. On March 9th as an Hrx, and 10th as a Cro area, however, its size did not exceed 20 millionths. I did not have the time to keep up with the Reverse Polarized Areas during this rotation, but will catch up for the next summary with a new reverse polarized area report. On March 28rd the current spotless streak stands at 18 spotless days. Overall Solar Activity remained Very Low and the rotation increased the spotless days count since solar maximum to 716 days. Finally, during the period SWPC reported three A-class, one B class and no C-class flares.
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