Solar Rotation Nos: 2237 to 2238
Quite a few sunspots were seen in November making a pleasant change to the long spells of spotless Sun that has become the norm of late.
Cloudy weather and low Sun made it difficult for most to observe easily.
Here are the solar highlights for November 2020 together with a selection of images.
Sunspots
AR2778 and AR2779 seen in late October were still visible but now close to the west solar limb. Both had gone over the west limb by the 3rd.
AR2780 came over the east limb of the Sun on the 3rd at latitude +20° a type Bxo single sunspot. By the 4th it seemed to fade from view only to reappear on the 7th before finally disappearing on the 10th.
AR2781 also appeared over the east limb on the 3rd at -23° with faculae. This was a larger type Cso type group with 5 sunspots. By the 4th it had developed to type Ehi, now containing 8 spots. On the 5th it was minor solar flare active. AR2781 was type Eki on the 7th with 13 spots and just visible to the protected naked eye. It was on the 10th that AR2781 reached its peak with 17 spots (most of them trailing a single large leader sunspot) and was solar flare active. Thereafter, many of the smaller spots started to decay away and it had disappeared by the 17th.
AR2782 came over the east limb of the Sun on the 12th at -31°. It was quite a small type Cso pair of sunspots with some pores developing on the 13th. It was also minor solar flare active. AR2782 was short-lived appearing to decay from the 14th and disappearing by the 15th.
The Sun appeared spotless on the 17th.
AR2783 appeared over the east limb on the 18th with faculae. Initially, a quiet type Hsx single sunspot at -22° but this changed by the 20th when it also became minor solar flare active. It had developed a little by the 23rd when near the Central Meridian but seemed to stay much the same until it reached the west limb on the 30th.
AR2784 appeared near the east limb on the 22nd at latitude +33°, of type Cro containing a few small spots. It lasted a couple of days before suddenly disappearing on the 24th.
AR2785 came over the east limb at latitude -23° on the 23rd. This type Hsx sunspot was minor flare active for a while and was still visible at the end of the month.
AR2786 appeared over the east limb of the Sun (close to AR2785) on the 24th at -16°. This was a large sunspot much bigger than the Earth by comparison. Initially, type Hsx it later developed into type Cko of 6 spots, most of them trailing behind a leader sunspot, by the 26th. AR2786 neared the centre of the solar disc on the 27th and 28th showing a couple of light bridges and just visible to the protected naked eye. It started to decay as the month ended but still produced some moderate solar flares.
AR2787 was a tiny Axx spot that appeared near the east limb on the 30th at +29°.
SPA Sunspot Mean Daily Frequency: 1.58 (was 0.49)
SPA Relative Sunspot Number: 21.74 (was 8.12)
Solar Prominences, Plage, Filaments and Flares
Observations and images were limited this month due to the time of year and cloudy weather.
Most prominences seen in November were small and compact in nature. However, a beautiful pair of prominences were seen on the SE limb on the 26th and a hedgerow type on the west limb on the 29th.
Bright areas of plage were seen around AR2781 as it crossed the Sun’s disc in early November and near AR2783 mid-month. Complex clusters of bright plage were observed around AR2785 and AR2786 on the 26th and 28th.
A few dark isolated filaments were seen, particularly on the 4th, 12th, 19th and 26th.
Well done to Carl Bowron who imaged rare bright very small solar flares known as ‘Ellerman Bombs’ on the 6th.
SPA Prominence Mean Daily Frequency: 2.89 (was 2.60)
Congratulations to Brian Gordon-States who observed 24 days in November. Jonathan Shanklin was close behind 23 days and Alan Heath 20 days.
Detailed count records of Active Regions and Relative Sunspot Numbers came from: John Chapman-Smith, Michael Fullerton, Brian Gordon-States, Ian Lee, Jonathan Shanklin, Brendan Shaw and Bob Steele.
Images and drawings were supplied by: Mark Beveridge, Carl Bowron, John Fathers, Mick Jenkins, Ian Lee, Cliff Meredith and Keith Moseley.
Welcome to Brendan Shaw who joined the Solar Section in December.
May I take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy (and healthy) New Year.