[Friends_of_SSASTROS] Notes From The Field - There'll Be No More Nighttime Observing...

[Mike McCabe]

...only solar now.
Greetings Fellow Astronomy Enthusiasts,
It's been quite some time since we've had a good night for observing, and honestly the situation doesn't look very good for the immediate future unless something can be done about those pesky Canadian wildfires. One can hope, so that's what I'll do.
In the meantime it's solar, solar, solar when it comes to getting the telescopes out, and believe it or not most days have been offering up at least some opportunity to do it. Today was mostly bad, with overcast conditions prevailing most of the time and smoke taking the stage when they didn't. But around 4pm the sky was workable enough and I was close to my equipment, so out it came.
Departing active region #3363 has been getting all the attention lately, and indeed it was very energetic looking in the eyepiece, taking on the form of what I like to call a 'splash-prom', which looks like what you'd see if a rock was thrown at a liquid surface while observing that surface in profile. But it was the little duo of AR3376 that caught my attention during this observation. The area around the spots was very bright, and could be an indication of a busy active region getting ready to start spewing flares. 3376 is much more earth-directed than 3363, so if it does erupt there will almost certainly be an interaction with earth's magnetosphere. 

AR3376 looks a lot less imposing than departing AR3363, but sometimes looks can be deceiving. Nothing else on the Sun showed more energy in Ha today than 3376.

This narrow-bandwidth image from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory clearly shows the energy in the region of AR3376. The time of 20:18 UT corresponds to 4:18pm local time.
Keep Looking Up...and hoping for nighttime clearing!
Mike McCabe
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