Chair and Sunspot Observing Group Leader: Carl E. Feehrer
Solar Flare/SID Observing Group Leader: Mike Hill

Despite the progressive decline in the Sun's activity as the minimum is approached, loyal contributors to the work of the Committee continue to make large numbers of sunspot and SID observations. During the period, 85 different observers filed sunspot reports and 20 observers filed SID reports. We hope that the high levels of interest in solar reporting that have been demonstrated by observers will continue as solar activity levels continue to decline.

Sunspot Reports

Five hundred ninety-three sunspot reports containing a total of 8,686 observations were received and processed. The reports were received from an average of 66 observers per month. As of June 2004, the group of active observers numbered 77. The totals are somewhat larger than for the equivalent period last year, owing to a small increase in the size of the reporting group.

SID Reports

For the last 9 months, SID activity has kept observers busy even though the sun is approaching the end of cycle 23. Over the past 9 months there have been a total of 183 SID reports submitted by the group of 20 active observers. The number of observers in the SID group has also grown beyond that of the earlier period.

Special Recognition of Observers

Several observers have met reporting thresholds established in the sunspot and SID programs for certificates of achievement. These observers and others who may meet the criteria in the meantime will be cited at the Fall 2004 meeting in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Website Activity

The numbers of images contributed to the AAVSO/Solar website has decreased in recent months, owing at least in part to the diminution of solar activity. Downloads of the Solar Bulletin and related data continue at a high level, and increasingly, the SolObs program available on the website is used in place of the older Sunkey program and hardcopy to report and transmit monthly sunspot data.

Software Development

Software required for the analysis of sunspot reports in a Windows XP environment has been completed by AAVSO member Lenny Abbey. This software replaces programs written some years ago for an MS-DOS environment, and it provides new tools for identification of non-conforming data formats and other report deficiences that complicate the monthly task of preparing observations for analysis.

Acknowledgements

As always, the successful performance of the Solar Committee is due to the dedication and hard work of our international cadre of observers, the AAVSO's staff, and Arthur Ritchie, a volunteer who assists in the preparation of the monthly sunspot data. Many thanks go to all those who submit reports and aid in the preparation of Solar Committee products.

Michael Hill, SID Analyst 114 Prospect St Marlborough, MA 01752 USA noatak@aol.com

Observer Code Station(s) monitored A Clerkin A29 NAA J Winkler A50 NAA NML NPM D Toldo A52 NAA xxx J Ellerbe A63 ICV W Moos A84 FTA M Hill A87 NAA J Mandaville A90 NPM G DiFillipo A93 DHO HWU T Poulos A95 NAA J Wallace A97 NAA M King A99 HWU P Campbell A100 NLK B Bose A103 VTX E Smith A105 DHO L Observatory A107 DHO A Son A112 DHO

The events listed above meet at least one of the following criteria Event reported by two or more observers within +/- 5 minutes Event matched to GOES-8 XRA event to within +/- 15 minutes and event time < 1000 UT Reported by observer with a high quality rating > 8 (scale 1-10)

Solar Events

July was certainly the most active month we have had in a long time. Very uncharacteristic for this time in the solar cycle. There were 120 correlated SID events this month! A very large number. So large in fact that I decided not to post them all in the bulletin due to space constraints. The full listing will be available at the SID web page. The GOES Satellite recorded 226 X-Ray flares. Of these, 32 were M-Class events and 6 were X-Class events. These are the highest number of large class flares that I can remember even in times of high activity. I hope you all had fun watching these events unfold. I'm sure you visual observers had quite a time counting spots this month. As can be seen below the month started out pretty slow but really picked up around the 11th and continued on that way for most of the month.

Now for some more mundane business. I have been getting a number of observers sending data in the wrong format and I just want to remind you all that the format required by the the AAVSO SID program, myself, and the software I use to process it is not optional. There are guidelines that have been clearly specified in the past, are still listed on the AAVSO SID website and that I have reiterated to some of you a number of times. You all must follow the prescribed format otherwise I will not process your data. The data must be an ASCII text file with the correct format as far as content. You should send this to me as a file attachment not as embedded text in the email you send. In addition the file must be named according to your observer ID and the station you monitor such as A87NAA..dat or A87NAA.txt. Please don't add extra information into the filename. Lastly, do try to get the data to me sooner than the deadline. Although you have until the 10th of the month to send in your data, it would be greatly appreciated if you sent it in by the 5th. Occasional lapses in this request are acceptable as I realize you may have other things going on that prevent you from getting to your data processing right away at the end of the month. Ok, enough said there. Thanks to all of you for sending in your data. As always all contributions, whether a single event or many events, are important.