2023 Solar Viewing

[Christopher K.]

Solar viewing at HRPO occurs at least once per month for two hours per session. Sometimes the sessions take place by themselves; sometimes they are incorporated into a larger public event. The 2023 dates are...
21 January, 12pm to 2pm
18 February 12pm to 2pm
18 March, 12pm to 2pm
29 April, 3:15pm to 5:15pm
20 May, 12pm to 2pm
24 June, 2:30pm to 4:30pm
22 July, 1:30pm to 3:30pm
26 August, 12pm to 2pm
23 September, 12pm to 2pm
21 October, 12pm to 2pm
25 November, 12pm to 2pm
23 December, 12pm to 2pm

This may be the greatest calendar year of solar activity--sunspots, plage, flares and prominences--in most kids' lifetimes. The activity in May 2022 was over fifty percent higher than predicted by the SWPC.

More information:
http://hrpo.lsu.edu/programs/solar.html

[Christopher K.]

Imagery from the SDO reveals ten Active Regions on the Earth-facing side of the Sun, including a truly massive sunspot at AR3190...
https://www.spaceweather.com/images2023 ... mi1898.gif

Regular solar viewing was scheduled tomorrow at 12pm, but sadly that cannot take place if the rain chance is thirty percent or over. The Sun will be viewing Sunday for the purpose of determining whether a special session of solar viewing is warranted soon at HRPO.

[Christopher K.]

Below is the NOAA forecast for HRPO's planned viewing time of 12pm to 2pm...
precipitation potential, 51%
sky cover, 92%
relative humidity, 82%
temperature, 13˚C
surface wind, E 23 km/h
Danko's Clear Dark Sky states that during HRPO's viewing time both the transparency rating and the seeing rating will be "too cloudy to forecast" (0 out of 5).

There will be no viewing during this time and HRPO will close at 12:30pm. If it begins to rain anytime after 12pm, HRPO will close immediately.

The 21 January 2023 day rating is...
EXCELLENT
VERY GOOD
GOOD
FAIR
POOR
BAD

[Christopher K.]

Below is the NOAA forecast for HRPO's planned viewing time of 12pm to 2pm...
precipitation potential, 20%
sky cover, 91%
relative humidity, 56%
temperature, 10˚C
wind chill, 8˚C
surface wind, N 18 km/h
Danko's Clear Dark Sky states that during HRPO's viewing time both the transparency rating and the seeing rating will be "too cloudy to forecast" (0 out of 5).

HRPO personnel will attempt viewing for about a half-hour, and HRPO will close at 1:30pm. If it begins to rain anytime after 12pm, HRPO will close immediately.

The 18 January 2023 day rating is...
EXCELLENT
VERY GOOD
GOOD
FAIR
POOR
BAD

[Christopher K.]

From rotating out of view to rotating into view, there are nine Active Regions on the Earth-facing side of the Sun: 3309 is barely visible as its rotating away; 3305 and 3302 form a complex of sunspots and plage; 3308 is not too far away from them; 3307 is nearest the center of the disk but has little to show visually; 3310 has the largest dark area; 3311 and 3313 form (again) a complex; and 3312 is just visible, but seems to be more plage than anything else.

Below is the NOAA forecast for HRPO's planned viewing time of 12pm to 2pm...
precipitation potential, 15%
sky cover, 30%
relative humidity, 61%
temperature, 32˚C
heat index, 37˚C
surface wind, NW 11 km/h
Danko's Clear Dark Sky states that during HRPO's viewing time the transparency rating will be "below average" (2 out of 5) and the seeing rating will be "average" (3 out of 5).

HRPO personnel will attempt viewing until 1:30pm and close the facility then.

The 20 May 2023 day rating is...
EXCELLENT
VERY GOOD
GOOD
FAIR
POOR
BAD

[Christopher K.]

There is now an unaided-eye sunspot on the Sun. This is at Active Region 3310. Apparently it is at the lowest limit possible for unaided-eye spying but Bum-Suk Yeom of South Korea is saying he saw it, and Judah believes he glimpsed it between clouds here at HRPO. Of course, solar viewers are necessary.

Meanwhile, 3308 is rotating out of view, the 3311/3313 archipelago is still stunning and puny 3312 barely draws attention to itself.

Yeom's Infographic:
https://www.spaceweather.com/archive.ph ... &year=2023

Current SDO view of the Sun:
https://www.spaceweather.com/images2023 ... mi1898.gif

[Christopher K.]

Today's APOD is an amazing timelapse of almost 3300 frames to show a whole "day" from sunrise to sunset along a portion of the Swedish coast. The Moon was nearly Full at this time. Good job, Bernd Pröschold.

The Sun has currently eight Earth-facing Active Regions, including archipelago 3333.

16 June 2023 APOD:
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230616.html

[Christopher K.]

What a day! Thirteen Active Regions: 3335, 3337, 3338, 3339, 3340, 3341, 3344, 3345, 3347, 3348, 3349, 3350 and 3351...
https://www.spaceweather.com/images2023 ... mi1898.gif

Sadly, this probably isn't the day to get a personal view of all the action.

Below is the NOAA forecast for HRPO's planned viewing time of 2:30pm to 4:30pm...
precipitation potential, 37%
sky cover, 46%
relative humidity, 68%
temperature, 33˚C
heat index, 43˚C
surface wind, SW 13 km/h
Danko's Clear Dark Sky states that during HRPO's viewing time the transparency rating will be "too cloudy to forecast" (0 out of 5) and the seeing rating will be "poor" (2 out of 5).

If the sky is clear, HRPO personnel will attempt viewing from 2:30pm to 3:30pm.

The 24 June 2023 day rating is...
EXCELLENT
VERY GOOD
GOOD
FAIR
POOR
BAD

[Christopher K.]

Tony Phillips is calling out an alert for sunspots! To quote, "The last time sunspot numbers were this high, the sun was on the verge of launching the Great Halloween Storms of 2003, which included the strongest X-ray solar flare ever recorded (X45), auroras as far south as Texas and a CME so powerful it was ultimately detected by the Voyager spacecraft at the edge of the solar system."

Solar Cycle 25 began in December 2019 and very few though it would produce this level of activity. Little did we know! The Royal Observatory of Belgium has calculated the sunspot number for June 2023 at 163--the largest count since September 2022!!

ISES Sunspot Number Graph:
https://www.spaceweather.com/images2023 ... counts.jpg

[Christopher K.]

Although I didn't have time to look, this was the Sun today...
https://www.spaceweather.com/images2023 ... mi1898.gif

If NOAA's current forecast is correct it may rain during HRPO's planned solar viewing time Saturday afternoon. If so, please check HRPO's schedule for any Special Solar Viewing Session triggering by GRS alerts and high visual surface activity.