In comments, Jonn-X wondered:
Dead pixels or new sunspecks (pore-ettes) ?
At first I was pretty sure I was looking at nothing, then I saw the official NOAA bulletin
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/forecast.html
and the usual phrase, “The visible disk was spotless,” was omitted – typical practice when there’s something there, but too small to be “officially noticed.”
Anybody else see anything?
I do. I know where the dead pixels are, and have labeled them below in the SOHO MDI image. Note that there are two very small sunspecks, possibly soon to be sunspots, emerging on both sides of the equator.
Click for a full sized image
For those that don’t know. The SOHO spacecraft sensor does have some stuck pixels, and these can sometimes be cured in a “bake off” where they heat up the sensor for a few hours.
Our resident official solar physicist, Dr. Leif Svalgarrd will confirm or refute my suspicions on the categorizations of SC23 and SC24 I’m sure. For comparisons, you can also see the SOHO magnetogram.
I’ve included it also below:
UPDATE: The specks are fading, so far no observation agency has assigned a region or counted them that I know of, see the updated SOHO MDI.
UPDATED SOHO MDI:
Click for larger image
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Those are the most pathetic sunspecks I’ve seen! I often check the magnetic image to see where the sunspecks are (it’s easier than remembering the stuck pixels), but even that is lame. Perhaps they’ll grow into some worth counting, but they need some help soon.
IF either of these specklets grows into a spot, AND it’s a Cycle 24 spot, then (assuming it gets a NOAA number) September 2008 will be the first month in which Cycle 24 has managed to produce more than a single Active Region.
Aren’t those sunspecks for the same cycle’s polarity since they’re on different hemishpere’s?
REPLY: The one in the northern hemisphere is higher latitude, that makes a difference. SC23 spots at end game are close to equator. – Anthony
[…] http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/09/29/small-sunspecks-emerging-on-both-solar-hemispheres […]
Ric Werme (16:25:16) :
“…I often check the magnetic image to see where the sunspecks are…”
Don’t forget the ground-based magnetograms
http://gong.nso.edu/Daily_Images/
These are updated much more frequently than the SOHO images.
That magnetic disturbance in the southern hemisphere looks like it’s more leaning toward SC24 since it seems the white is leading – sorta. But whatever, those are really anemic spots showing, though they seem more notable than this morning. Perhaps in a few more hours we’ll see if there’s something we can hang our hats on.
“At times of solar minimum, there are very few large sunspots, and only tiny magnetic fields can be seen all over the disk (black and white tiny dots). ”
http://solar-center.stanford.edu/solar-images/magnetograms.html
I still think that other measures are more important. Like the conveyor belt speed. The magnetic properties of the Sun that affect Earth. CME’s from sunspots. Etc… Is it possible that cycle 24 will burble along at this anemic state, even producing lots of tiny tims and still be no more active than a blank Sun in terms of these other measures? I think so. And that would be very interesting.
The burnt-out pixels can be seen in the MPEG movies of the Sun where the pixels stay in one spot and do not move with the rotation of the Sun. The three SP spots on the left have been there for a few months now. (The new spots are not shown in the MPEGs yet.)
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/LATEST/current_mdi_igr.mpg
Most of what has you excited in that figure are dust specks on the satellite telescope lens which are always there. The magnetogram shown here http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/mdi_mag/1024/latest.jpg
does show two areas of interes but the items labeled SP in your figure ate really DP (dust spots) LOL
Moral of story, always wait for the expert (Lief) to weigh in before you get excited.
Those items labeled SP for sun-specks should be labeled DP for dust specks. Those are specks of dust on the satellite telescope lens and are always there. That is why the do not show up in the magnetogram. 🙂
LOL
REPLY: SP for “stuck pixels” – Anthony
Wow, my bad. Now I see that SP means Stuck Pixel. hahaha. Us old guys are to analog. At least we can still learn.
@Gary Young SP stands for “Stuck Pixel”, not sun speck.
Heh. I am not quite fast enough with my comments.
This site makes it easy to compare recent pics:
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/realtime-mdi_mag.html
Gary Plyler (18:02:11) :
“Most of what has you excited in that figure are dust specks on the satellite telescope lens which are always there.”
It’s extremely unlikely those are dust spots on the optics, such critters merely block a little light and introduce a little loss of contrast. Unless the f-stop is extremely high, there’s essentially no way you’d be able to see them and less of an opportunity for them to occupy one pixel. Dust on the image sensor would be more likely, but given that a bake cycle can restore functioning for a while, they are just stuck pixels.
OT: speaking of space telescopes, Hubble’s image processing unit has failed, delaying the shuttle repair mission while folks figure out what to do about it.
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/37004/title/Hubble_suddenly_quiet
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii42/rhaetian/SolarCycleStartTimes19thCenturyto20.jpg
There is another way of looking at solar cycles. Solar cycles actually start with the magnetic reversal near the peak of the previous cycle. The sunspots take seven years to surface and be visible. Almost all sunspot cycles tend to be about 18.5 years long, measured from the peak of the previous cycle. The above graph compares the average of three cycles from the late 20th century with three from the late 19th century (which had much colder weather). Also included is Solar Cycle 5, the first half of the Dalton Minimum. Given we are now 103 months from the peak of Solar Cycle 23, it now appears too late to get a late 19th century-type outcome for Solar Cycle 24. Out of the 24 named solar cycles, Solar Cycle 24 is now the latest after Solar Cycle 5. It is so late that it is now in no man’s land and its weakness is now more of a consideration than lateness in itself. It is now almost certain that we will be getting a Dalton Minimum-type experience.
Pamela Gray (17:40:34) :
“Is it possible that cycle 24 will burble along at this anemic state, even producing lots of tiny tims and still be no more active than a blank Sun in terms of these other measures?
I posed this same scenario to Leif in the last blog, but did not get a reply. I agree that this will be a lackluster cycle for the same reasons you site. This is shaping up similarly for now to cycle 6: slow, weak ascent to a low high and back again.
The flux fell back down again today, just a blip for mid-September, and it’s back to anemic. Ergo I fully expect that these sunspecks are going to fade just as fast as 9/11’s even if they make visibility.
The flux is like fuel in the gas tank, and currently it’s running on fumes.
Nothing behind these spots. Tiny bubbles.
There’s no fizz in the bubbly.
The speck in the North is clearly SC24. The one in the South is more doubtful. My inclination would be SC23 based on its latitude, However, the magnetic axis is nearly North-South so the polarity is uncertain, but with a weak tendency to SC24 signature. So perhaps a toss up. I guess we’ll see in a few hours if SIDC [Catania] report the spots. NOAA didn’t for 29th Sept.
[…] Archibald Commenting in Watts Up With That? Small sunspecks emerging on both solar hemispheres 28 September, […]
You can’t be serious with this. Did they really assign numbers to these?!?
Geez…now we’re getting down to atom ant sunspots.