AR 1166 is flaring - one to watch

[Andrew*]

Just got a look at the sun - wow, five active regions!!

AR1166 is looking very bright in Ha, and there are a couple of blue wing filaments, so things are definitely moving there. Perhaps it will evolve some more...

Anyway, get out if you can - plenty to look at!

Andrew

[Kp6]

It looks very angry indeed! I think there has been a long duration M class flare just erupt from that region, it's a bit early to say for sure but it looks like there may be a very dense cloud of plasma coming from the explosion.

[Andrew*]

Yep, that was it: SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids

Seems like I saw it kick off, but I didn't have the time to watch it develop. Anyone else get a view?

Andrew

[Peter Drew]

I certainly did Andrew. I had been keeping an eye on it now and again with a standard PST which I use as a grab and go to check whether it is worth getting anything larger out. The seeing and transparency was much better than of late. At 1.00, what was supposed to be the last peek before lunch showed the main AR to be surrounded by a "ring of fire". I quickly set up a 80mm/PST mod version and watched for the next hour. At times the ribbons of activity were almost too bright to look at appearing like molten lava flowing from a volcano. A couple of these "rivers" extended in length, sometimes widening significantly and at other times breaking up into lines of single spots. These outbreaks seemed to follow the darker "magnetic lines" entwining the main spots. At the same time there were similar, but not so intense bursts of activity from the other AR's. The seeing seemed to deteriorate a bit by 2.00 but the limb "boiling" as a result juct accentuated the "heat" of the scene. The best view of activity I've had for some time. Observations at 30x and 40x, TV 26 and 20mm Plossls.