NOAA AR1712, by John W. O’Neal, II
View this image in high resolution
Image details
Is Solar Cycle 25 upon us? Although not officially announced yet, there are indications. The magnetic polarity of Active Region 2712 identifies it as a piece of the new cycle, because it reverses the polarity expected for Cycle 24 regions.
On May 29th, AR2712 underwent a sudden transformation. Multiple dark cores began to form, expanding the region’s size and spot count 10-fold. During the day-long period of sunspot genesis, the sunspot’s fast-changing magnetic field crissed, crossed, and erupted almost a dozen times, producing a flurry of B- and C-class solar flares. Pulses of extreme UV radiation created multiple minor waves of ionization in Earth’s upper atmosphere. Ham radio operators may have noticed low-frequency brownouts and other propagation effects during the episode.
This image of solar granulation and active region 2712 was captured in the Sodium D wavelength of light at 5,895.9 Angstroms with a DAYSTAR Filters Sodium D Line QUARK and an Explore Scientific 152mm Refractor at 4,250mm effective focal length. The camera was a ZWO ASI174mm. The image, consists of 3,000 16 bit frames captured with Sharpcap, 12% stacked in Autostakkert!2, sharpened in Registax6 and processed & colorized in Adobe Photoshop CS6.
About the photographer
John W. O’Neal, II
Location: United States
Website, Astrobin, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Flickr
Want in on the action? Submit your image today!
Add Comment