LOOK AT THE SUN IN WL - CARRINGTON CLASS MASSIVE SUNSPOT.

[Kon]

Possibly the best sun spot I have ever seen. I missed the very good seeing due to work but it was still breathtaking. I managed some imaging too. A little preview below.

 

[scotty1]

It's been mostly sunny all day, until I get the camera out now thick cirrus. 

[paulastro]

50 minutes ago, Kon said:

Possibly the best sun spot I have ever seen. I missed the very good seeing due to work but it was still breathtaking. I managed some imaging too. A little preview below.

 

It's probably the best one any of us have seen 😊.

Of all the ones I've seen, there's only one in 1971 I did a drawing of that could come close perhaps.  Alas I only drew the sunspot itself and not the whole disk which would have been helpful.  I was only a callow youth back in those days 🙂.  

 

[Leo S]

The geomagnetic storm watch was upgraded to "strong" event expected earlier today, but now has been upgraded to "severe", with possibly multiple strong cannibalistic CMEs on the way after yet another X-flare (today's second so far!):

"GET READY FOR A 'CANNIBAL CME': Multiple CMEs are heading for Earth (see the movie below). A new NOAA forecast model suggests that three of them could merge to form a potent "Cannibal CME." Cannibal CMEs form when fast-moving CMEs overtake slower CMEs in front of them. Internal shock waves created by such CME collisions do an good job sparking geomagnetic storms when they strike Earth's magnetic field. Indeed, NOAA is now predicting a severe storm on May 11th when the Cannibal arrives. CME impact alerts: SMS Text

SEVERE GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH: This weekend's geomagnetic storm watch has been upgraded from G2 (Moderate) to G4 (Severe). Why? Because giant sunspot AR3664 keeps hurling CMEs toward Earth. Following today's X2.2 solar flare, there are now at least 4 storm clouds heading our way."

 

 

[PeterStudz]

A iPhone snap from earlier today. Certainly the best sunspot I’ve seen. What a lot of fun in the sun! I left the 200p outside and as it’s a clear night (hopefully) I’m about to have another session before bedtime. 
 

Edited May 9 by PeterStudz

[scotty1]

38 minutes ago, PeterStudz said:

A iPhone snap from earlier today. Certainly the best sunspot I’ve seen. What a lot of fun in the sun! I left the 200p outside and as it’s a clear night (hopefully) I’m about to have another session before bedtime. 
 

Whilst doing that you've missed the Eurovision song contest. 

Edited May 9 by scotty1

[Pete Presland]

Looked very impressive yesterday through my Evostar120, easily visible through eclipse glasses as well.

Spaceweather is predicting a large impact, but they are also saying not a Carrington event either. Fingers crossed for some activity down south and clear skies! 

[scotty1]

10 hours ago, Pete Presland said:

Looked very impressive yesterday through my Evostar120, easily visible through eclipse glasses as well.

Spaceweather is predicting a large impact, but they are also saying not a Carrington event either. Fingers crossed for some activity down south and clear skies! 

Bedfordshire may just be ok until it's dark, but a lot of cloud is likely in eastern areas.

[Elp]

Aurora alerts just gone red

Edit: very VERY red

Edit: I think the graphs broken due to the activity keeps increasing 

 

Edited May 10 by Elp

[paulastro]

13 hours ago, Pete Presland said:

Looked very impressive yesterday through my Evostar120, easily visible through eclipse glasses as well.

Spaceweather is predicting a large impact, but they are also saying not a Carrington event either. Fingers crossed for some activity down south and clear skies! 

And up North!  😊

[wookie1965]

[Alan White]

And indeed it was visible, the whole sky nearly alight. 
Started as a hint and showed with a camera and later it was naked eye.

This for me was truly and unbelievably wonderful and moving, it brought tears to my eyes.
Its one of my Big Ticket Bucket List items and delivered to my observing pad in South Essex.

This solar cycle will remain seared in my memory.
 

[Highburymark]

Wow, sorry to see the end of that sunspot group - although it may well come round again. Extraordinary detail today, and decent seeing meant I could use the 120mm. By some distance the best sunspot I’ve ever had the privilege to observe.

[John]

Busy day entertaining grandchildren today but I did get a quiet half hour late afternoon to point my Vixen 102 refractor at the Sun. Might be my last view of the magnificent AR3664 😢

For the late afternoon the seeing seemed quite steady here:

 

[scotty1]

From Thursday 9th May 

[Paz]

On 09/05/2024 at 17:57, Paz said:

Having seen this thread I got a scope out for a quick look and took a measurement - about 14.5 ticks long in my Microguide eyepiece (the picture is much worse than the view was). Now I have to dig out the instructions to work out how big that is!

.

Just to follow up, the size I measured is...

Distance to target (km) x measured size in reticle (mm) / Focal length of scope (mm)

...so...

151,000,000km x 1.45mm / 975mm = about 225,000km or about 139,000 miles (ignoring foreshortening from it not being exactly square on).

In the SM125 scope each little tick on that scale is  over 15,000km across at the sun, so Earth would easily fit inside one tick.

I've seen a few reports  in the media that there might be more action when this spot comes around again, but how long can a spot keep going?

[paulastro]

5 minutes ago, Paz said:

Just to follow up, the size I measured is...

Distance to target (km) x measured size in reticle (mm) / Focal length of scope (mm)

...so...

151,000,000km x 1.45mm / 975mm = about 225,000km or about 139,000 miles (ignoring foreshortening from it not being exactly square on).

In the SM125 scope each little tick on that scale is  over 15,000km across at the sun, so Earth would easily fit inside one tick.

I've seen a few reports  in the media that there might be more action when this spot comes around again, but how long can a spot keep going?

I'm pretty certain I recall spot groups going round three times - perhaps more?

[Captain Scarlet]

20 minutes ago, Paz said:

Just to follow up, the size I measured is...

Distance to target (km) x measured size in reticle (mm) / Focal length of scope (mm)

...so...

151,000,000km x 1.45mm / 975mm = about 225,000km or about 139,000 miles (ignoring foreshortening from it not being exactly square on).

In the SM125 scope each little tick on that scale is  over 15,000km across at the sun, so Earth would easily fit inside one tick.

I've seen a few reports  in the media that there might be more action when this spot comes around again, but how long can a spot keep going?

… and not dissimilar to the Earth-Moon distance (edit: just checked, E-M is 380,000km so 60% of E-M distance)

Edited Saturday at 14:53 by Captain Scarlet