21st Dec Sunspots

[John W]

21st Dec.
A cloudy day made me wait a couple of hours before I could get a reasoanble image of the sun. This one was taken thru light cloud (the best I could manage). AR 3163 is about to disappear from view on the western limb, while AR 3169 and 71 are heading across the sun towards the west. There appears to be a new spot on the SE limb.
December has been a great month for sunspots and I suspect the total count for the month will be high. Single exposure with Canon 550d, herschel wedge and WO refractor. Thanks for viewing.

[Averton]

Thanks a lot for sharing this as there was definitely no gap in the clouds here today. As you say, it has been a very interesting month. Because we've had some good weather this week, we've been able to appreciate the changes as the active regions have moved across the disk. The new region in the SE is a long way from the equator. Do you think that this suggests that it is still some time to solar maximum?