LIVE FROM SWPC · ACTIVE REGIONS
The Disk Today
FLARE POTENTIAL:β-γ-δ highβ-γβα calm
Dot size = spot area · brightness = how directly it faces Earth (dim = near the limb)
READING THE DISK
- Orientation — north is up, east is left, west is right, the same view you'd get at the eyepiece. Regions drift left to right over about two weeks as the Sun rotates.
- Each dot is an active region — a sunspot group. A bigger dot means a larger spot area.
- Brightness is placement — bright dots face us head-on and are well-placed to image; dim dots sit near the limb, foreshortened and about to rotate off.
- Colour is magnetic complexity, the simplest predictor of flares. Grey and blue are calm; orange and red can erupt. A red (β-γ-δ) region is the one to keep an eye on during an imaging session.
- Tap any region — on the disk or in the list — for its full record.
Acquiring SWPC data…
READING THE DISK
- Orientation — north is up, east is left, west is right, the same view you'd get at the eyepiece. Regions drift left to right over about two weeks as the Sun rotates.
- Each dot is an active region — a sunspot group. A bigger dot means a larger spot area.
- Brightness is placement — bright dots face us head-on and are well-placed to image; dim dots sit near the limb, foreshortened and about to rotate off.
- Colour is magnetic complexity, the simplest predictor of flares. Grey and blue are calm; orange and red can erupt. A red (β-γ-δ) region is the one to keep an eye on during an imaging session.
- Tap any region — on the disk or in the list — for its full record.
LIVE FROM SWPC · GOES X-RAY FLUX
Flare Watch
Acquiring GOES telemetry…
READING THE FLUX
- The bold line is the Sun's X-ray brightness right now — measured by a satellite, updated every minute. It's the long-wavelength (1 – 8 Å) channel, the one that defines a flare's class.
- A flare is a spike. Its class is the peak height on the A → X scale, and each letter up is ten times more energy: C is minor, M is moderate (can disrupt HF radio), X is major.
- A quiet Sun sits low and flat in the A–B range. The baseline creeping up is often the first sign a region is waking up.
- For imaging — an active Sun means live chromosphere structure: flares, surging prominences, and brightening – worth catching in Hα while it's happening.