Well, Big Bear is kind of down, but there is indeed a huge quiescent
prominence on the east limb. It is a long disturbed hedgerow-type with
an arch-like section that looks like it is approaching "breakoff height"
(50,000 km). The arch-like form of the southern half is a bit frayed
along the top with only two footpoints, so it might eventually break off
and float away in a disparition brusque eruption. So far it shows no
signs of moving upwards just yet. It shows up fairly well in the NSO
Sacramento Peak (Limb Darkening Subtracted) image at 2130 UT. I do like
the NSO images:
http://nsosp.nso.edu/data/latest_solar_images.html , as
they are of medium scale which matches what I see in the PST fairly
well, although the contrast is boosted to an extreme. There is also
some smaller but brighter action along the western limb where that giant
delta group 10808 has gone around. It put up a couple of narrow surges
and one brilliant but small arch while I was watching it with my PST.
On the disk, there is only one active region with spots at it looks to
be just a regular extended Beta group with a moderate-sized leading spot
with penumbra and a cluster of smaller trailers. Two of the trailing
spots appear to have at least rudimentary penumbrae, but the tiny broken
stuff nearest the big leading spot may just be penumbral fragments.
The plage around the trailers is extensive and fairly bright (and a
little sinuous too although I don't see much in the way of major active
region filaments or a highly organized arch filament system inside the
group). One narrow section of plage got fairly bright around noon, but
when I looked back at it at 4 p.m., it had faded. There are a few
quiet region filaments on the disk with the largest being again somewhat
towards the eastern limb and a nice group of smaller fainter ones near
the center of the disk. Looks like things have settled down for a
while. I am starting to watch for the very first higher-latitude spots
of the next cycle, as we are probably getting close to the period when
they might start to appear (generally 18 months before the end of the
current cycle). Clear skies to you.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory:
http://www.hydeobservatory.info/
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* Attend the 12th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 31 - Aug. 5, 2005, Merritt Reservoir *
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