I love how the sun looks today.  I'm surprised by the number of sunspots regions on the visible face right now.  14 appear numbered on SWL website, but there are many others unnumbered!  I am curious to know what the record for visible regions is.  Does anyone know this?

Funny @Ester89. I was thinking of doing a latitude check and see two new regions incoming to make 16 ARs soon.  I think we have hit 14 before in this cycle once. But uncertain!  

Preliminary record using my periodic latitude checks from this January is fifteen ARs on June 30.  Incidentally we have a new record today for SFI as well.   242.  Excellent Mr sun.  SC 23 max that I was able to estimate from Jan Alvestad’s Historical Data Charts was about 270 which we hit twice in year 2000.  For all time records. Definitely cycle 19 broke and still holds the record for smoothed ss numbers at 285 using current methods. And 201 using pre 1994 records.  During solar maximum of SC 19 the middle looked really strange….  Two black stripes near the equator from my memory of an old photo.  SFI in that cycle hit 380 on Christmas Day 1957. Solar maximum was in March or April of 1958 as I recall.  SFI at 350. 

Edited July 17, 20241 yr by hamateur 1953
AR stuff SFI record flux. Cool 19 stuff

7 hours ago, hamateur 1953 said:

Funny @Ester89. I was thinking of doing a latitude check and see two new regions incoming to make 16 ARs soon.  I think we have hit 14 before in this cycle once. But uncertain!  

Preliminary record using my periodic latitude checks from this January is fifteen ARs on June 30.  Incidentally we have a new record today for SFI as well.   242.  Excellent Mr sun.  SC 23 max that I was able to estimate from Jan Alvestad’s Historical Data Charts was about 270 which we hit twice in year 2000.  For all time records. Definitely cycle 19 broke and still holds the record for smoothed ss numbers at 285 using current methods. And 201 using pre 1994 records.  During solar maximum of SC 19 the middle looked really strange….  Two black stripes near the equator from my memory of an old photo.  SFI in that cycle hit 380 on Christmas Day 1957. Solar maximum was in March or April of 1958 as I recall.  SFI at 350. 

Thanks @hamateur 1953 for your answer! At this moment there are 17 regions!! 😎

1 minute ago, Ester89 said:

Thanks @hamateur 1953 for your answer! At this moment there are 17 regions!! 😎

AR 3738 seems to have ran off behind the sun now

50 minutes ago, Ester89 said:

Thanks @hamateur 1953 for your answer! At this moment there are 17 regions!! 😎

WOW!!!

And 3743 just dealt us a mid level M class!  Rockandroll 

15 hours ago, Ester89 said:

I am curious to know what the record for visible regions is.  Does anyone know this?

11 hours ago, hamateur 1953 said:

For all time records. Definitely cycle 19 broke and still holds the record for smoothed ss numbers at 285 using current methods.

Going by a couple of the series here, it seems like 1958 is indeed the winner, not unexpectedly. The single date with the most groups seems to be 1958-01-18, with a group count of around 26.

Thanks dude!  Hey on SFI I remembered a huge Forbush decrease in 1991 and wondering if it might not have coincided with another record flux event like SC19.  Bingo.  370 SFI from Jan Alvestad’s  Historical Data charts.  Very cool.  

12 hours ago, hamateur 1953 said:

WOW!!!

And 3743 just dealt us a mid level M class!  Rockandroll 

I know, the sun is throwing flares at us from the wrong regions, at that time AR 3743 was just a β, and have us a M class flare! AR 3751 is a β-γ, which should throw some flares, but it's been quiet the whole time!