Edit:<\/strong> Yes indeed, even excluding the sunspots the solar disc yielded more surface detail today via my H-alpha solar telescope than I’ve seen all year – as well as several nice solar prominences along the limb.\u00a0 I encourage anyone who has the proper telescope AND proper filters to take a look at ‘Ole Sol today (and hopefully for the next several days).\u00a0 I’ll have to check the shortwaves later.<\/p>\nGuest Post by Troy Riedel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As an avid amateur astronomer, solar observation has been quite boring during 2018.\u00a0 As a shortwave radio enthusiast, the lack of solar activity has impacted that hobby as well. Well, the catchword of the day is \u201csurprise\u201d! I was alerted yesterday evening by Spaceweather.com that a large sunspot had emerged and developed into a group […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[811,1127,4581],"class_list":["post-33757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-spaceweather","tag-sun-spots","tag-troy-riedel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-8Mt","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":30763,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/02\/solar-minimum-a-relative-large-sunspot-makes-appearance\/","url_meta":{"origin":33757,"position":0},"title":"Solar Minimum: A “relatively large” sunspot makes appearance","author":"Thomas","date":"February 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: Southgate ARC) With Solar Minimum right around the corner, sunspot counts are at an almost 10-year low. So it came as a surprise yesterday when a relatively large sunspot emerged near the sun's eastern limb. AR2699\u00a0has a primary dark core larger than Earth with many smaller magnetic condensations trailing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sunspots","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Sunspot.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":31835,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/sunspots-are-in-short-supply-and-its-only-getting-worse\/","url_meta":{"origin":33757,"position":1},"title":"Sunspots are in short supply (and it’s only getting worse)","author":"Thomas","date":"May 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Unfortunately, this is not news to brighten your day. According to Spaceweather.com, sunspots are disappearing faster than expected: Sunspots are becoming scarce. Very scarce. So far in 2018 the sun has been blank almost 60% of the time, with whole weeks going by without sunspots. Today's sun, shown here in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ham Radio"","block_context":{"text":"Ham Radio","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/ham-radio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/SunSpots-None.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/SunSpots-None.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/SunSpots-None.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/SunSpots-None.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":59638,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/05\/spaceweather-com-sunspot-visually-rivals-carringtons-famous-sunspot\/","url_meta":{"origin":33757,"position":2},"title":"Spaceweather.com: Sunspot “visually rivals Carrington’s famous sunspot”","author":"Thomas","date":"May 8, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel, who shares the following news via Spaceweather.com: HUGE SUNSPOT HURLS CME TOWARD EARTH: A sunspot so large it visually rivals Carrington's famous sunspot of 1859 hurled a CME toward Earth today. Don't worry! A new Carrington Event is not in the offing.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/CME-Flare-Carrington-Comparison.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":57182,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2023\/07\/spaceweather-com-radio-amateurs-hack-a-nasa-spacecraft\/","url_meta":{"origin":33757,"position":3},"title":"Spaceweather.com: “Radio Amateurs Hack a NASA Spacecraft” and Sunspot High for Cycle 25","author":"Thomas","date":"July 6, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors, Troy Riedel and Jock Elliott, who share the following news items from Spaceweather.com: RADIO AMATEURS HACK A NASA SPACECRAFT:\u00a0Ham radio operators are picking up a strong signal from space. It's NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft returning home after 17 years. \"I'm having fun with STEREO-A,\" reports\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ham Radio"","block_context":{"text":"Ham Radio","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/ham-radio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/splash.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":62835,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/a-new-solar-cycle-wrinkle\/","url_meta":{"origin":33757,"position":4},"title":"A New Solar Cycle Wrinkle","author":"Robert Gulley","date":"May 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"An interesting article caught my attention on spaceweather.com concerning new research on what is called the Gleissberg Cycle. Interested? Read on! THE COUNTER-INTUITIVE QUIET CONTINUES: Big sunspots usually produce big solar flares. Giant sunspot 4079 is an exception to the rule. All week long, it has been strangely quiet, producing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Sunspots-070723-500LR-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Sunspots-070723-500LR-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Sunspots-070723-500LR-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":41285,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/12\/a-new-sunspot-emerges-breaking-40-day-spotless-streak\/","url_meta":{"origin":33757,"position":5},"title":"A new sunspot emerges, breaking 40 day spotless streak","author":"Thomas","date":"December 24, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: Spaceweather.com via Michael Bird) A SUNSPOT FROM THE NEXT SOLAR CYCLE: Breaking a string of 40 spotless days, a new sunspot is emerging in the sun's southern hemisphere. It comes from the next solar cycle. The unnumbered spot is inset in this map of solar magnetic fields from NASA's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/unnamed-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33757\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Sunspots.jpg\")
<\/a>\u00a0Credit: Spaceweather.com – Sunspot group AR2720, photographed by Thierry Legault on Aug. 25th from the Saint-V\u00e9ran\/Astroqueyras observatory in the French Alps. An image of Earth has been inserted for scale (Link<\/a>).<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Forecast.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n