Either SC24 is the weakest ever solar cycle in a long time or I’m cursed. I look on Anthony Watts‘ excellent weblog and see that someone has sighted an SC24 spot in the Southern Hemisphere
And here’s the magnetogram showing that it is indeed an SC24 phenomenon:
If you care to look at the last SC24 spot to appear in the Northern Hemisphere, then this does appear to be an SC24 spot, (the magnetic polarities being reversed between the hemispheres).
So I snap into action, going to SolarCycle24.com and…
…is that it? Or is it a dead pixel in the camera? Let’s check the magnetogram:
…and its gone!
Another SC24 “Tiny Tim” and I missed it.
Clearly spotting sunspots is more difficult than I thought. There cannot be more than a few hours between Anthony’s post and mine, and yet the SC24 spot and magnetic signature had both disappeared.
And on a sad note, it appears not to have been given a number by NASA. Maybe the person responsible went for coffee at just the wrong time.
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10 comments ↓
It is still visible at now 10:00UT, 4 may. So you are not cursed
You’re imagining it. There’s nothing on the magnetogram which means that the spot you’re seeing is an artifact of the camera when dealing with a spot on the sun which is just slightly lower temperature than the surrounding photosphere.
Dealing with single pixels is always a problem and the cameras degrade over time, having to be “baked out” periodically as the CCD pixels lose sensitivity.
The magnetogram is the key. Nothing there means no sunspots.
And on a sad note, it appears not to have been given a number by NASA. Maybe the person responsible went for coffee at just the wrong time.
Lol, that was funny !
It is a Cycle 24 sunspot. Certain images may not have been updated yet depending on the source.. however this one is for real. This is the second Cycle 24 spot in less than a month. So hopefully things continue and hopefully a nice Solar Max will be reached in 2011-2012
Is this the first SC24 sunspot on the southern hemisphere?
I hope we have a cycle24 before cycle25 gets here! NASA’s track record is getting worse by the day.
Here is a blink-animation for the new SC24 sunspot. The magnetic abnormality appeared in the frame at 2008-05-03 06:58. The sunspots appeared in the frame at 2008-05-03 20:46.
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/8986/mdi20080504ld1.gif
A minimum of 3 sunspots can be discerned in some frames. In the last frame with sunspots, their size and number appears to be decreasing. I will update the blink-animation when more frames become available.
Mike
Note: To view using IE press the “F11” key to toggle between full screen and the normal IE display. To stop the animation, press the “Esc” key. To restart the animation press “F5”. The solar image is best viewed in full size, if using IE pass the pointer over the image and click if a magnifying glass is displayed with a “plus” sign in the center. The blink speed is one frame every 2.5 seconds with a 8 second delay on the last frame.
Houston We Have A Problem!
The SOHO MDI Continuum & MDI Magnetogram imaging systems are not updating, as the Date/Time stamps on the following eight SOHO products indicates.
20080504_1900_eit171_1024.jpg
20080504_1925_eit195_1024.jpg
20080504_1906_eit284_1024.jpg
20080504_1919_eit304_1024.jpg
20080504_1854_c2_1024.jpg
20080504_1842_c3_1024.jpg
20080504_0505_mdiigr_1024.jpg
20080504_0512_mdimag_1024.jpg
As of this post the last MDI Continuum & MDI Magnetogram downloads were over seventeen hours ago.
The following graphic shows the delays between MDI Continuum & MDI Magnetogram downloads during 2008. With the number of Tiny Tim SC24 sunspots we are seeing, could one have slipped unnoticed through the gaps which the following graphic identifies?
http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/6788/sohomdidelaymy9.gif
Mike
Suppose Mr. Hathaway was right when observing a sunspot with cycle 24 polarity on 31th July 2006. This means solar cycle 24 is now nearly 20 months old and should statistically become visible. So, if this doesn’t happen, we can expect a probably weak till very weak solar cycle 24 (Schatten, Badalyan,Svalgaard or Clilverd). Note, I’m not a solar scientist, I’m a mechanical engineer with a maintenance management background.
Tree months plus and the trend continues. Spotless again today.
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