2013 01 06 – NOAAs 11638, 11640, 11641, 11642, 11644, 11645, 11646, 11647, 11648, 11649, 11650, 11651, 11652, 11653, SW Prominence
Fourteen active regions speckled the Sun on the 6th of January, two more than the previous day. The sunspots and active regions were small and the solar activity was still fairly low. Even so, my fascination with the Sun began in 2005, so this was the highest number of active regions I’ve observed in one sitting to date. Today, there are two larger active regions, 1654 and 1656, that are putting on quite the show with a 65% chance of M-class flares and a 10% chance of X-class flares, most likely from 1654 per Spaceweather.com. AR 1654 is facing Earth today.
I’ve rotated the two full-disk eyepiece sketches for standard orientation comparison of all visible light v/s hydrogen alpha. The SW prominence caught my eye straight away and I had hopes that it would break away or collapse on itself. It did neither during my observation, but still provided an interesting observation.
White light sketch created at the eyepiece with white card stock, felt-tipped black artist pen, charcoal pencil, black oil-based pencil.
Hydrogen alpha sketch created with black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, white Prang pencil, black oil pencil, charcoal pencil.
PCW Memorial Observatory - Erika Rix 