lunar eclipse 5/26/21

with clouds forecast, i set my alarm for 4 AM and woke to see the sky clearing.  with some ambivalence i dragged myself out of bed, grabbed the camera set up in the garage and managed to catch the eclipse just as the moon cleared the clouds, watching it set again into a cloud bank.  

lunar eclipse 5/26/21 4:15 AM pacific
clearing clouds

lunar eclipse 5/26/21
composite image
cropped bright lights

partially eclipsed setting into cloud bank

Image details

nikon D850

AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm F3.5-5.6G ED VR 

5/26/21 ~4 AM 

east bluff, CA

all highly cropped, probably should have used longer focal length lens as the wide star field is unimpressive with this level of light pollution

sunspot AR 2824 and the solar frenzy

The sun burst out of its minimum this weekend with a series of explosions on Saturday May 22nd, the likes of which haven't been seen in years.  While I missed the burst, I captured images of the offending spot on Sunday--my first solar images in 2 years:

AR 2824 and friends Ha 5/23/21 21:11 UTC

AR2824 Ha 5/31/21 21:21 UTC

Solar Prominences Ha 5/23/21 21:05 UTC

Something lifting off? Ha 5/23/21 21:03 UTC

artistic composite view (exclusion) Ha 5/23/21

The bursts are forecast to hit earth's magnetic field in the late hours of May 25th, potentially triggering auroras.  A big bonus for north western viewers staying up late for the lunar eclipse in the wee hours of May 26th.  

the accompanying radio bursts were so loud they drowned out a local thunderstorm (Thomas Ashcroft's radio data): 

View the dynamic spectrum

listen to the audio

While NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded a series of flares:

movie

Here's a list of annual sunspot activity over 15 years from spaceweather.com, a great site for solar activity information.  showing the minima around 2019 and 2008, confirming an 11 year solar cycle that's been documented for centuries:  

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2021 total: 46 days (32%)
2020 total: 208 days (57%)
2019 total: 281 days (77%)
2018 total: 221 days (61%)
2017 total: 104 days (28%)
2016 total: 32 days (9%)
2015 total: 0 days (0%)
2014 total: 1 day (<1%)
2013 total: 0 days (0%)
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
2008 total: 268 days (73%)
2007 total: 152 days (42%)
2006 total: 70 days (19%)
Updated 24 May 2021

Image details:
Ha full disk Lunt 60 PT double stacked
zwo ASI 290MM
FPS (avg.)=39-178
Shutter=0.331-1.78ms
Gain=351 (unity)
East Bluff, CA
5/23/21
21:05-21:11 UTC