17 August 2011

Observing Location	P84
Observational Period	1650-1835 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear - Isolated Temperature 83° F Wind Light Breeze Wind Chill Effect Heat Index 83° F Humidity 47% Barometric Pressure 30.07" Hg 7 KNYC METAR 172051Z AUTO VRB04KT 10SM CLR 28/16 A3010 RMK AO2 SLP183 T02830161 56013 TSNO Feels Like Warm Transparency Good Seeing II-III
Instruments	Celestron C70 Mini Mak spotting scope stock 25x-75x zoom eyepiece Kendrick filter cell with Baader AstroSolar filter film Sunset FO-2000 tripod Empire Magnetic POLYCAST Protractor Planetarium for Palm on Tungsten|T3
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Leo Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20110817.1700 EDT Distance Light Time 1.01 AU 8m 25s Angular Size 31' 38.9" Altitude 31° 23' Heliographic Latitude (B0) 6.75° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 113.23° Parallactic Angle (P) 16.82° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2113 3D Sun graphic Comments Observing was difficult today due to cloud cover. There weren't that many clouds but they were coming out of the west so were low on the horizon where they bunch up. I had to wait for a good while for a large cloud to move from in front of the Sun before I could complete my observations. I counted three groups on the sun today. There are two large obvious ones near the western limb, one each in the north and south, and another much less conspicuous group more toward the center of the disk in the southern hemisphere which NASA hasn't noticed yet. I think anything that is large enough for me to see it in my little spotting scope should have an official designation. Solar Dynamics Observatory graphic from SWx Monitor   Groups Spots R North 1 6 16 South 2 3 23 Total 3 9 39 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots) Group 1271 Heliographic Latitude 18° Heliographic Longitude 57° Spots Counted 3 Carrington rotation number (CR) 2113 Mcintosh System Exc Helio graphic Solar Dynamics Observatory graphic from SWx Monitor Group 1272 Heliographic Latitude -15° Heliographic Longitude 68° Spots Counted 1 Carrington rotation number (CR) 2113 Mcintosh System Crx Helio Graphic Solar Dynamics Observatory graphic from SWx Monitor Unnumbered Group [1273] Heliographic Latitude -22° Heliographic Longitude 123° Spots Counted 2 Carrington rotation number (CR) 2113 Mcintosh System Axo Helio graphic Solar Dynamics Observatory graphic from SWx Monitor

I came across this depiction of the Sun from the Solar Influences Data Analysis Center (SIDC) in Belgium, probably a part of the European Space Agency. Solar Influences Data Analysis Center graphic At the scale it is available to me I find it hard to deal with since the indicators from various agencies overlay one other. It does indicate that NOAA hasn't found the small sunspot group out in the center of the southern hemisphere. I used to use the Active Solar Regions program by Raben Systems. It was a project being developed for NOAA and I guess it was available to the public, if they could find it, as a sort of beta testing program while it was under development. I can't find anywhere to download the software now, but the graphics from it are available on the Web from Maps - Active Solar Regions | raben.com. Raben Systems graphic An interesting thing I found out while reading the legend was that the scale of the grid on the back side of the Sun approximates the portion of the sun that will rotate onto the earth-facing side of the Sun each day. If those three groups on the right side of the back face graphic and those on the earth-facing side hold up the sun should be getting very interesting about this time this week.