Solar Rotation Nos: 2226 to 2227
Blank Sun for most of the month but plenty of activity in H-alpha light.
Here are the solar highlights for February 2020 together with a selection of images.
Sunspots
AR2757 was still visible on the 1st but by now was near the west limb. This Sunspot Cycle 24 sunspot had disappeared by the 3rd having been visible for quite a while. For the rest of the month the Sun was without sunspots, a stretch of 27 days.
SPA Sunspot Mean Daily Frequency: 0.06 (was 0.32).
SPA Relative Sunspot Number: 0.83 (was 4.05).
Solar Prominences, Plage, Filaments and Flares
Thankfully, there was more to see in Hydrogen-alpha light. On the 3rd with the solar disc being devoid of sunspots there were several filaments, particularly a filaprom on the north west limb.
The 6th saw a collection of filaments across much of the southern hemisphere of the Sun as well as prominences on the north and west limbs. By next day while much of the filament activity had disappeared, there was a substantial prominence on the north east limb.
Two interesting prominences were seen on the 26th.
SPA Prominence Mean Daily Frequency: 1.22 (was 1.45).
Well done to Alan Heath on 25 days, Brian Gordon-States who observed 23 days and Jonathan Shanklin on 21 days. Well done too to Cliff Meredith who imaged the Sun on the 9th from the relatively clear sky in the eye of Storm Ciara!
Detailed count records of Active Regions and Relative Sunspot Numbers came from: Brian Gordon-States, Michael Fullerton, Alan Heath, Ian Lee, and Lee Macdonald.
Images and drawings were supplied by: Carl Bowron, Ian Lee and Cliff Meredith.