Heads up! Another big sunspot on the way?

[JB80]

Just looking at some latest images from SDO and there appears to be a large sunspot coming around the corner in the 8 o'clock position.

http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/latest/latest_1024_HMIIC.jpg

[Luke]

A HUGE spot coming nicely into view in the latest SDO images :laugh:

I think I will be clouded out today, but hope to see this big 'un tomorrow   I imagine Steve will be busy optimizing his new white light scope, testing it on birds in trees. etc.

[Steve Ward]

No he's laying in bed reading this ...  

Can't get a clear shot til around ten here ... looks like being a few gaps about ...   

[JB80]

Jeez there is two of them, it was only one last night when I posted this.

[Joves]

Looks like the Lunt solar wedge might get its first workout in the morning!

[Sirius Bizness]

Yes! New solar scope should arrive Monday to start getting a good look of this.

Excuse my ignorance but how long does it take for us to see a sunspot move across the disc face assuming we can't see it at highly tangential angles. Also do they disappear before moving across whole disc (I guess they are very active). I am new to this solar stuff!

[Bart]

Not much visible today at this hour!

Barry

[JB80]

Yes! New solar scope should arrive Monday to start getting a good look of this.

Excuse my ignorance but how long does it take for us to see a sunspot move across the disc face assuming we can't see it at highly tangential angles. Also do they disappear before moving across whole disc (I guess they are very active). I am new to this solar stuff!

No need to excuse yourself, they are good questions.

 Sunspots can move at different speeds so there is no set rule, well kind of, they move faster closer to the equator than they do further out on the disc. Normally and I'm guessing here but you have maybe a week for it to travel across.

One of the things you can do is chart the spots movement in grids across the sun and record them, I'm not sure if you can submit the data anywhere though.

And yes they can disappear in a matter of hours but then others can last for 100 days.

It's all quite fascinating.

I managed to catch a break in the clouds to get a few snaps so we'll see what I got a bit later.

[Helen]

They take about 12 days to rotate across the disk if they are around the equator (a bit longer if they are further north or south). They can appear and disappear, and change, quite quickly - impossible to predict! That's what makes solar so interesting!

Helen

[Sirius Bizness]

Thanks for the answers guys. Sounds like the window is 7-12 days then but the spots themselves are very dynamic.

I started trying to work it out myself by finding out how fast the sun rotated (27 days at equator - 31 days at poles), including the earth orbit, and then trying to find out if the earth orbit was in the same direction as the suns rotation. It turns out everything should rotate counterclockwise (Venus and Neptune being exceptions). At this point I decided it was too complicated and thought I would ask you guys for some practical experience.

I hope this one holds out until next weekend and that it isn't as cloudy as it is here now in Derby.

I can see why solar viewing is addictive and I haven't even started!

[Luke]

Conditions were poor here, but I had a go anyway seeing as there was such a nice spot on view!

I set up to image white light first, but adandoned the imaging. There was too much cloud, no way I would get that to stack, so I switched to visual with my ED80 and Herschel wedge. The view was poor, but it give me a feel for the size of the new spots and I was pleased to have seen the big spot

The view with my hydrogen alpha scope was more successful, the big spot looked majestic, with some lovely filaments around it and some nice proms in the area. The view was still ropey, but it's whetted my appetite. Hope the clouds show some mercy tomorrow

[Pete Presland]

looking very interesting, might even get a chance to see it tomorrow!

[Joves]

Clouded out completely today, so the wedge will have to wait... Trust!