May « 2016 « Solar Section

May 20, 2016

Carrington Rotation 2176, a short summary

The Rotation ran from 2016-04-12 1857 UT till 2016-05-10 0053 UT.
Submitted images can be viewed at the following URL:
http://www.alpo-astronomy.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=81501
15 Active Regions could be observed during the rotation (AR2529 – AR2543). The rotation started with a total active region area of 880 millionths and 22 sunspots and ended with a total active region area of 210 and 28 spots. The largest region in the previous rotation, AR2529, continued to be the dominant region for this rotation too, and maxed out with an area of 850 millionths. The lowest total area was recorded on April 23rd with 70 millionths. It has been a while since the Sun produced a flare larger than a M5, However early morning 4/18 marks the day/time when it produced an M6.7 flare which did cause an R2 alert to be posted. The highest Wolf Number (86) was recorded for 4/28 with 6 regions and AR2535 showing 9 spots by itself, and the lowest Wolf Number (11) on 4/24 when only region AR2433 was observed with only one sunspot.

The last day of the rotation showed a special event, the Mercury transit which was the subject of the previous summary. The archive received over 380 submissions for the rotation, with an additional 40 for the Mercury transit.
Thanks to all who spend their time observing the Sun, and submitting their observations.
The ALPO- Solar team.

May 14, 2016

The Mercury Transit, a short summary

As of this writing the ALPO Solar Section received 26 submissions of observations of the Mercury Transit. The transit was well advertised in the JALPO and Solar blog through John Westfall’s article about the transit. In order to accommodate the request to provide a number of images taken exactly at the full hour, a number of submissions were filed which were taken to the second at XX.00 .00 UT. It is our understanding that some of these images have been used by individuals to re-calculate the distance between the Earth and the Sun ( 1 AU). In addition several composite images showed the planet as it tracked in front of the sun and during ingress and egress. Take a look at the archive to see what was submitted:
http://www.alpo-astronomy.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=82053
We’d like to thank all that took the time to observe this event and submit their observations.
The ALPO Solar team.

May 3, 2016

The Mercury Transit, a call for image submissions

Well, it is less than a week until the Mercury transit, and a group of individuals is looking forward to try, based on the parallax shown in images of the transit at the same time, when made from different locations from Earth, to calculate the distance between the Sun and Earth. In order for this to be successful they will need images made at the same time and know the exact coordinates of the location on Earth where the image was made. We are suggesting to not only submit your images of the transit, but if possible also an image of the full sun at exactly the full hour (if possible to the second because Mercury as well as the parallax are very small), so these enthusiasts will have data they can use. If you make an avi, please use the center time of the avi.

In addition, the ALPO’s Transit section will use the data for an extensive report to be published at a future date in the Stolling Astronomer, the Journal of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (the ALPO).

We hope that Solar imagers will consider this request, and submit all their images (also partial Sun images and close ups) attached to an email with the exact time and coordinates of the location addressed to: solarimages@alpo-astronomy.org .

Thank you and wishing you all Clear Skies,