Major solar activity is currently underway with a very large sunspot group near the centre of the sun's disc. It's surface area is greater than that of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars combined. Apparently it can be seen with the naked eye - make sure to use a proper solar filter if you intend taking a peek though. Another large spot is just starting to rotate into view on the sun's limb. This should be easier to see over the next week or so.
Aurora warning has been issued for Europe for Friday night/Saturday morning.

Have a look here for the latest pics of the sun.
sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/

Michael.

Apparently it can be seen with the naked eye - make sure to use a proper solar filter if you intend taking a peek though.

It was easily visible earlier in the week with eclipse shades. Havent looked since our 30hour thunder storm abated!

Cheers,
~Al

Just had a peek during a coffee break and the spot is still visible without any magnification.

Binoculars show that the group is large but apperas to be spreading out. another group is starting to come across at about the same latitude.

Keeping a tripod, binoculars and baader filters in the boot of the car can be useful sometimes

Cheers,
~Al

Apparently it can be seen with the naked eye - make sure to use a proper solar filter if you intend taking a peek though.
Michael.

Folks,
is Grade 14EW Welders Glass still acceptable for viewing the sun?? Is there any kind of UV ray danger on the eyes or anything???

Seanie.

groups.yahoo.com/group/auroralobserving/

Is the main yahoogroup for aurorae, and is maintained by Dr. Brian O'Halloran. a low traffic list averaging just over a mail a day so if youre interested in auroras[1] you know where to go..

Cheers,
~Al

[1] Not sure if the plural of aurora is auroras or aurorae so I used both!

Showed this to about 40 students and teachers at Mayfield Community school Cork today using an 85mm refractor and Baader solar filter cell, another sunspot no 486 is about the same size and both look impressve, this went down very well athough one bright spark suggested that there was a lot of dust on the filter!!! Students in afterwards in IT class went online to spaceweather.com and checked this out, This followed a word document with facts/figures and images based on the planet Neptune yesterday.

I drove up to Naul (which is somewhere just noth of Swords) tonight but couldnt see anything that clearly was an aurora. There was a glow to the north, but its appearance was more like that of glow from a distant town than an aurora.

Cheers,
~Al

groups.yahoo.com/group/auroralobserving/

In case anyone wants more discussion on possible aurora then there are a couple of threads ok uk.sci.astronomy also groups.google.com/groups?group=uk.sci.astronomy

Cheers,
~Al

I was hoping to watch an aurora last night also, but no joy. Before driving anywhere I look at this site sec.noaa.gov/pmap/pmapN.html .
It shows an enlarged of aurora activity in the northern hemisphere. Earlier in the afternoon, I looked at the website and Canada was completely covered in red, indicating that an aurora was most likley seen there in their evening time. However, by the time the sun had set here, the activity seemed to have died down significantly.
Oh well, mabey tonight, if the clouds decide to stay away.
Michael

Just after putting my astrosolar film on my 4.5" scope and took a peek at the sun. WOW is all i can say. The spots there are absolutely amazing. The detail withing the spots is incredible - it's not just one big round black thing but something much more complex in structure. I must definetly invest in a thousandoaks for my 8".
Michael

hi folks,

yes, there was a very quiescent display of aurora during the early hours of Saturday morning ... I'm down home in Dromineer (beside Lough Derg in N. Tipp) and have dark skies and can confirm some "activity".

However, we seem to have got just a glancing blow from the first CME flung our direction by the Sun. Another one is due to hit around 2am on Sunday morning though again it might just be a side-swipe from the plasma cloud.

Al highlighted the yahoo aurora group and there were a few extra posts from people last night while dashing outside to keep an eye on the sky. Nice views of Saturn and Orion rising in the early hours after midnight.

some updates now on that group on the activity last night and prospects for tonight (registration required) but it's run by Brian O'Halloran, one of the Cosmos 2003 speakers in Tullamore.

Sean, number 14 grade welder's glass is fine while number 13 does at a pinch though you might need to tilt the glass slightly to reduce the slight glare. Don't use any grade lower. A friend mentioned to me he used a CD recently -- shock, horror!!! He's been suitably admonished at this stage!!!

cheerio,

John

Sean, number 14 grade welder's glass is fine while number 13 does at a pinch though you might need to tilt the glass slightly to reduce the slight glare. Don't use any grade lower. A friend mentioned to me he used a CD recently -- shock, horror!!! He's been suitably admonished at this stage!!!

cheerio,

John

Thanks John. I still have the piece you gave me at the very first Astrofest way back in '92 (I think it was!), remember? It still works!

Seanie.

Tried posting a mesage here earlier but for some reason, it didn't show up.
Anyway, just took a couple of pics of the sun. Gave them a quick process in PSP and uploaded them in the files section.
www.irishastronomy.org/user_resources/fi...un%20Full%20Disc.jpg
www.irishastronomy.org/user_resources/fi...Sun%20Close%20up.jpg

May be of interest to those who haven't seen sunspots before

Michael

Nice pictures. I tried taking some `artistic` shots myself today, the thin cloud was visible through baader film, so I tried getting shots of trees siloueagainst the sun, I'll post the results when they are developed (if they are any good!). Yet again I forgot that the earth rotates, and by the time I had some shots set up the sun had moved. I really should remember that in future!

Also, there is the chance of more auroral activity tonight:
From: Brian O'Halloran
The latest forecasts from SEC and STD predict that the CMEs from yesterdays X-flares may arrive sometime in the next 12 hours. It may be that they may arrive very close together, and thus increase the level of activity to severe geomagnetic storm levels, though this is still very uncertain. Any further news, I'll post it here and on the Yahoo group.

I cant see any activity at the moment, but then again it would need to be very spectacular for me to see it from south Dublin.

Cheers,
~Al

Joined that yahoo aurora group over the weekend. Very good. Up-to-the-minute info. Very handy. Thanks for that Albert.
Michael

Another alert courtesy of Brian O'Halloran

www.spacew.com/cme/index.html

"This event has the potential to produce the strongest geomagnetic storm since 1989. Auroral activity could become visible into the deep low latitude regions. This one is worth driving a good long distance over to find clear skies. It has better potential to produce low-latitude aurora than almost any other event observed in the past decade."

And we have cloud...

Note: POTENTIAL! Though no doubt Someone will be on the media predicting power blackouts, mobile network failure etc. like last week!

Cheers,
~Al

Hi All,
Amazing activity on the Sun these days, I haven't seen anything like it in a number if years. I managed to get a number of close up pics of these sun spots using a Toucam pro and a Meade ETX 90, there is some great detail to be seen here, and it is changing daily!!!
I noticed a ring type formation on Monday afternoon that was not there on Sunday (or at least i couldnt see it). Anyway, when the pics are processed, I place links here for them (prob to SAC site)..

The sunspots that generated alot of excitement a few weeks ago are now back in view. I pulled out my 4.5" reflector from the garage, stuck on my astrosolar film and had a look this afternoon. I read somewhere recently that a yellow or orange filter can help improve the image as the film tends to create a pale-blue image by itself. As I've only a yellow filter, I put it on and was surprised at how much better the sun appeared. Gives it a much more realistic colour.
Anyway, below are a couple of pics showinng tha activity taken place at the moment. Who knows, mabey another aurora??


In this image, cloud can just be seen crossing the solar disc at the 7-o'clock position.






Hope these are of interest, especially to those who haven't access to a scope and solar filter.

Michael