Super Moon

We had a nice Super Blue Moon the other day, although it wasn't blue. Managed to catch it low down and was a more yellowish colour which was quickly lost as it began to rise.

Also the sun has been very spotty, which is to be expected as we approach Solar Maximum.

Super Moon is 14% bigger and 30% brighter as it closer to Earth

Sunspots during August

Managed to photograph the sun over a three day period so far this month. Only on 1 day did the sunspot number fell below 100 sunspots

 

The conditions are not always good enough to get a clear photo, make sure you don't look directly at the sun and use a solar filter to protect your sensor. Only use live view don't look through the viewfinder.

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The sunspots

As the sun becomes more active as we head to solar maximum we will see more sunspots on the surface.

up to this point there has been 88 consecutive days where over 100 sunspots have been visible

The sunspot below is massive, more than 4x the size of Earth. Sunspots can grow or decline quickly so its important to record the date and time photographs are taken
 

Domnt forget, dont look or photograph the sun without the proper solar filters otherwise you can damage your eyes or sensor on your camera

More Sun Activity

Merry Christmas to all

The sun for Christmas full of sunspot presents and it looks like this cycle will be a lot better than expected

What do lots of sunspots mean, well more Aurora activity. Now all we have to do is get rid of the cloud

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More Activity more Aurora

 These last few days the sun has been very active with a train of sunspots racing across the sun. The size equivalent to 22 earths side by side.

More activity on the sun means more Aurora activity and on Sunday night there was a major Aurora with many arcs. Pity it was total cloud and only one person reported seeing anything from the south Mainland. It went from an Amber alert to a Red alert in two mins with lots of colour visible to the naked eye. Only odd breaks in the sky

Shetland Aurora Hunter is the best way to keep in touch and for up to-date information on the Aurora , where and when to see it and about local conditions

But at this time in the month, the Moon was also at 99% full which means if the Aurora was visible it would have to be strong to beat the Moonlight, as it was yesterday.

As Solar Cycle will continue to grown and produce more sunspots we will get more major Auroras and hopefully clear skies to see them.