{"id":3281,"date":"2021-08-15T19:27:29","date_gmt":"2021-08-15T18:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.popastro.com\/main_spa1\/solar\/?page_id=3281"},"modified":"2021-08-15T19:34:38","modified_gmt":"2021-08-15T18:34:38","slug":"solar-highlights-for-july-21","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.popastro.com\/solar\/solar-highlights-for-july-21\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar Highlights for July 21"},"content":{"rendered":"

Solar Rotation Nos: 2245 to 2246<\/p>\n

There is current speculation that prediction of sunspot activity based on new sunspot data indicate that the maximum of Sunspot Cycle 25 might peak earlier than expected. Solar Maximum might occur in late 2024 rather than in mid 2025.<\/p>\n

A month of surprises, a naked eye sunspot was seen at the beginning of July with plenty of smaller sunspot activity, one at very high latitude. Around the 21st six sunspot groups were visible on the Sun something we have not seen since late 2017. The first X-class solar occurred in AR2838. This was followed by a blank Sun at the end of the month!<\/p>\n

Here are the solar highlights for July 2021 together with a selection of images.<\/p>\n

Sunspots<\/strong><\/p>\n

AR2835<\/strong> at -18\u00b0 was seen just west of the Sun\u2019s Central Meridian (CM) on the 1st. Classed as type Eki, 11 spots were counted within, and it was glimpsed with the protected naked eye by Alan Heath from the 2nd to the 4th. Thereafter, it seemed to decay and the main sunspot appeared to split into two on the 6th. It went over the west limb by the 8th with bright faculae visible.<\/p>\n

AR2836<\/strong> on the 1st at latitude -27\u00b0 was just visible to the southwest of AR2835 as a single sunspot. It had gone over the west limb by the 5th.<\/p>\n

AR2837<\/strong> was still visible on the 1st as a cluster of small sunspots nearing the CM but north of the equator at +17\u00b0. It went over the west limb by the 8th.<\/p>\n

\"2021
2021 July 1 @1649UT AR2835_36_37 White Light whole disc image by Mick Jenkins.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"2021
2021 July 1 @1652UT AR2835_36 White Light image by Mick Jenkins.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

AR2838<\/strong> appeared on the disc close to the west limb on the 3rd at +24\u00b0. It was solar flare active and produced the first X-class flare of Sunspot Cycle 25. Being near the limb it disappeared over it a couple of days later.<\/p>\n

AR2839<\/strong> appeared near the east limb on the 5th at +19\u00b0. It seemed to be initially quite active as type Cro but appeared to slowly fade away as it headed westwards, finally disappearing by the 11th.<\/p>\n

AR2840<\/strong> was another sunspot to pop into view near the west limb. It appeared on the 7th at +27\u00b0 type Bxo but was easy to miss visually. It passed over the limb on the 9th.<\/p>\n

AR2841<\/strong> was a small type Bxo cluster of pores that came over the east limb on the 10th at -18\u00b0. Barely visible in white light, but better in H-alpha, it had gone by the 14th leaving faculae behind.<\/p>\n

AR2842<\/strong> was a single Hsx sunspot that came over the east limb on the 11th with bright faculae around it. It was seen as a group of small spots\/pores on the 20th It seemed to stay much the same by the 20th and started to show faculae as it headed westwards. It went over the west limb by the 24th.<\/p>\n

\"2021
2021 July 11 @0841UT AR2842 White Light image by Carl Bowron.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

AR2843<\/strong> was a small Bxo type group of spots that appeared near the west limb on the 15th at -17\u00b0. It went over the limb on the 19th.<\/p>\n

AR2844<\/strong> appeared over the east limb as a single Axx type pore (almost invisible) with scattered faculae on the 16th at the extraordinary high southern latitude of -43\u00b0. Short-lived, it disappeared by the 20th leaving faculae visible.<\/p>\n

AR2845<\/strong> came into view as a cluster of small spots\/pores just west of the CM on the 18th at -16\u00b0. It was thought that a solar flare occurred while imaging in H-alpha on the morning of the 22nd but later no flares were reported elsewhere so it much have been an imaging artefact. AR2845 went over the west limb by the 24th.<\/p>\n

AR2846<\/strong> came over the east limb as on the 20th at +25\u00b0. Still active this was the return of former AR2838 seen last month. It was seen decaying by the 28th.<\/p>\n

\"2021
2021 July 19 @0914UT White Light whole disc image by Carl Bowron.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

AR2847<\/strong> came over the east limb on the 21st at -29\u00b0. It was seen decaying by the 28th.<\/p>\n

AR2848<\/strong> appeared near the east limb on the 21st at +20\u00b0 but was short-lived and was gone by the 25th.<\/p>\n

AR2849<\/strong> came into view near the east limb on the 22nd at -18\u00b0, type Axx, it only lasted a couple of days and had disappeared by the 25th.<\/p>\n

\"2021
2021 July 22 @1133-1144UT White Light images of AR2842_45_46_47_48_49 by Carl Bowron.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Sun was spotless from the 29th to the 31st.<\/p>\n

SPA Sunspot Mean Daily Frequency: 1.95 (was 1.45)<\/strong>
\nRelative Sunspot Number: 27.17 (was 18.85)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Solar Prominences, Plage, Filaments and Flares<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sunspots AR2835 and AR2836 were impressive in ordinary white light but more so in H-alpha.<\/p>\n

\"2021
2021 July 1 @0825UT H-alpha disc drawing by Ian Lee.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"2021
2021 July 2 AR2835_36 H-alpha image by John Fathers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

AR2841 showed much more activity in H-alpha.<\/p>\n

\"2021
2021 July 11 @0859UT AR2841 White Light and H-alpha images by Carl Bowron.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Prominence activity seemed a little muted in July but there were exceptions.<\/p>\n

A filaprom was seen on the southwest limb on the 5th.<\/p>\n

Three largish prominences were seen on the 8th.<\/p>\n

\"2021
2021 July 8 @0919-0923UT Prominences H-alpha. Images by Carl Bowron.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An unusual cloud-like prominence (resembling an anteater to my mind) was seen on the SW limb on the 10th.<\/p>\n

A faint loop\/arch prominence appeared on the west limb on the 13th. This appeared to separate into three separated prominences on the 14th.<\/p>\n

There were plenty of filaments seen this month, some lengthy and elaborate in appearance. One such filament was seen following AR2842, initially one long feature it was seen splitting into five parts by the 17th.<\/p>\n

A long snake-like filament seen extending behind AR2842 on the 18th.<\/p>\n

Near AR2847 a long snake-like filament bordered by bright plage to the southeast and a line of three smaller filaments nearby on the 25th. These seem to persist until the 28th and possibly longer.<\/p>\n

Bright plage were visible around AR2842, AR2844, AR2845, AR2846, AR2847, AR2848, AR2849.<\/p>\n

\"2021
2021 July 22 @1115UT H-alpha disc drawing by Ian Lee.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SPA Prominence Mean Daily Frequency: 2.36 (was 2.53)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Congratulations to Alan Heath and Jonathan Shanklin who both observed 30 days and to John Chapman-Smith and Bob Steele who both observed 20 days.<\/p>\n

Detailed count records of Active Regions and Relative Sunspot Numbers came from: Mick Jenkins, Ian Lee, Lee Macdonald, Jonathan Shanklin, Brendan Shaw and Bob Steele.<\/p>\n

Images and drawings were supplied by: Carl Bowron, Paul Brierley, John Chapman-Smith, John Fathers, Mick Jenkins, Ian Lee and Cliff Meredith.<\/p>\n

Geoff Elston<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Solar Rotation Nos: 2245 to 2246 There is current speculation that prediction of sunspot activity based on new sunspot data indicate that the maximum of Sunspot Cycle 25 might peak earlier than expected. Solar Maximum might occur in late 2024Read more<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3281","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t