The sun spot count

Jannyfox · 7 Dec 2022

is ramping up at last

As usual my camera acted as a cloud magnet when I came back indoors to swap the white light rig (camera, lens and Mylar filter) for the Ha rig (PST), so I never got a look at any prominences (and I think there were some very impressive ones)
The sun spots don't come ready labelled, btw, just in case anyone thought............ :coat:

Sangoma · 7 Dec 2022

Jannyfox said:
is ramping up at last

View attachment 375522

As usual my camera acted as a cloud magnet when I came back indoors to swap the white light rig (camera, lens and Mylar filter) for the Ha rig (PST), so I never got a look at any prominences (and I think there were some very impressive ones)
The sun spots don't come ready labelled, btw, just in case anyone thought............

"is ramping up at last" What does it mean?

Jannyfox · 7 Dec 2022

Sangoma said:
"is ramping up at last" What does it mean?

Solar activity goes in cycles of roughly 11 years (it can be a bit variable) during which the magnetic activity that causes sun spots, flares etc builds up to a maximun and tails off again. The current cycle (25) began 3 years ago. At the end of cycle 24 we had a long period with low solar activity and cycle 25 has been very slow to build given that we're now more than half way towards the next maximum.
While a lot of solar activity is fascinating for someone like me and great for aurora watchers (sadly I live too far south and I've never seen one) it's bad news for spacecraft, radio communications and occasionally power generating infrastructure. It's also been linked to climate changes (the Little Ice Age of the latter half of the 17th century was a period of almost no sun spot activity) though more recent studies indicate that this may be a coincidental effect.
Hope that helps