Another great day for solar observing

I did not have the opportunity to image yesterday, when conditions were ideal. Today, with severe storms some hours away, a hazy sky, and breezy conditions, I had the time to get out the PST-DS and Mallincam DS2,3+. Despite the conditions, the sun looked very good indeed when I imaged it, and I managed a 90-minute Night Skies Network broadcast.

There are a number of active areas visible on the sun:

At the top of the sun, is AR2677, an active area that is moving onto the sun's disk. The elongated area toward the center is AR2674, a extended archipelago of spots. The bright, horseshoe shaped area adjacent to it is AR2673, which is crackling with M-Class flares (M1) that are Earth-directed. ARs 2675 and 2676 are at the bottom edge of the disk.

Here is a close up of  ARs 2674 and 2673:

AR2673 is a twisted, magnetic knot: it looks very chaotic. Here is a zoomed-in image of the area:

Despite the loss of resolution, you can see the magnetic tension in the spot. No wonder it is flaring!