Richard Bailey, Solar Section Director, writes:
Solar flares are forecast as a result of a large sunspot Active Region, AR1618, at present near the centre of the Sun. The AR will go westwards in the coming days.
www.spaceweather.com has a picture of the Sun showing the AR and others.
Observers with H-alpha filter equipment should watch for flaring, bright plaging and filament activity to the large AR.
The AR can be watched in normal light by projecting the image onto a shaded white screen, or using (only) an approved solar filter properly fixed to a telescope. NEVER look at the Sun with the naked eye!
When will the next solar maximum be?
Forecasts have been made for many months by several solar experts that the maximum of the current Cycle 24 will be of lesser intensity than others in recent times. This contrasts with predictions made by NASA several years ago that the current solar cycle would be one of the strongest since 1958, with spectacular solar eruptions and aurorae visible. So how is the current maximum shaping up?
Records of observations made by SPA Solar Section members have shown the Sun to have been less active than hoped for at this stage in the cycle. We have some months to go before the predicted date of maximum activity, currently thought to be due about mid-2013.
The sunspot observations for October hardly vary from those for September. It will be interesting to see how the data goes from now through to May/June next year, to confirm, (or otherwise ) the forecasts.
To see the latest photographs of the Sun and its activity, go to the Solar Section report for October.
A fine picture taken by Brian Woosnam through a hydrogen-alpha filter