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Solar Bulletin, May 2003

Solar Bulletin

THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF VARIABLE STAR OBSERVERS - SOLAR COMMITTEE
Carl E. Feehrer, Editor
9 Gleason Rd.
Bedford, MA 01730		Email: cfeehrer@hotmail.com

ISSN 0271-8480
Volume 59 Number 5May 2003
Table I. Mean Sunspot Numbers for May 2003
[boldface = maximum, minimum]		Table II. May Observers
Day N Raw s.d. Ra s.d. s.e.
1 38 149 7.0 105 2.4 0.39
2 42 130 8.2 93 3.2 0.49
3 46 128 6.5 94 2.5 0.37
4 57 131 5.2 98 2.1 0.28
5 36 126 6.1 94 2.9 0.48
6 34 104 5.0 77 2.7 0.46
7 44 72 4.1 55 2.6 0.39
8 37 44 3.0 31 1.6 0.26
9 49 27 1.1 21 0.7 0.10
10 52 25 1.0 19 0.7 0.10
11 47 41 2.0 30 1.0 0.15
12 42 56 2.7 41 1.5 0.23
13 39 60 2.9 43 1.2 0.19
14 40 59 2.8 44 1.3 0.21
15 40 65 3.4 47 1.6 0.25
16 38 64 2.7 47 1.4 0.23
17 48 51 2.8 39 1.4 0.20
18 48 59 3.3 42 1.6 0.23
19 46 80 4.3 58 2.1 0.31
20 36 81 4.6 58 2.3 0.38
21 42 76 3.9 55 1.9 0.29
22 38 85 4.4 60 2.3 0.37
23 35 71 6.1 51 2.9 0.49
24 39 47 3.5 34 1.6 0.26
25 39 57 3.1 42 1.7 0.27
26 39 80 5.4 57 2.1 0.34
27 45 77 4.2 58 2.0 0.30
28 51 85 4.8 63 2.1 0.29
29 49 82 4.1 60 1.6 0.23
30 51 64 2.6 47 1.0 0.14
31 40 59 3.0 42 1.1 0.17
Means:42.875.3 55.1  
No. of Observations: 1327
No. of Observers: 79

Reporting Addresses

Sunspot Reports -- email: solar@aavso.org

postal mail: AAVSO, 25 Birch St. Cambridge, MA 02138
FAX (AAVSO): (617) 354-0665

SID Solar Flare Reports -- email: noatak@aol.com

postal mail: Mike Hill 114 Prospect St. Marlboro, MA 01752
10 AAP P.Abbott
27 ARAG G.Araujo
19 ATON A.Attanasio
15 BARH H.Barnes
14 BATR R.Battaiola
21 BERJ J.Berdejo
9 BLAJ J.Blackwell
10 BMF M.Boschat
23 BOJP P.Bojda
26 BOSB B.Bose
31 BRAB B.Branchett
21 BRAD D.Branchett
18 BRAR R.Branch
27 BROB R.Brown
3 BURS S.Burgess
8 CAMP P.Campbell
14 CARJ J.Carlson
30 CHAG G.Morales
29 CKB B.Cudnik
9 CLZ C.Laurent
10 COMT T.Compton
31 CORA A.Coroas
22 CR T.Cragg
8 CVJ J.Carvajal
28 DEJV J.van Delft
6 DELS S.Delaney
5 DEMF F.Dempsey
16 DGP G.Dyck
24 DRAJ J.Dragesco
28 DUBF F.DuBois
28 ELR E.Reed
11 FEEC C.Feehrer
19 FERJ J.Fernandes
25 FLET T.Fleming
18 FUJK K.Fujimori
20 GIOR R.Giovanoni
23 GOEM M.Goetz
3 GOLA A.Golovin
10 GOTS S.Gottschalk
5 HALB B.Halls
8 HAYK K.Hay
2 HUZR R.Huziak
18 JAMD D.James
10 JEFT T.Jeffrey
7 JENJ J.Jenkins
22 KAPJ J.Kaplan
21 KHAR R.Khan
22 KNJS J&S Knight
2 KROL L.Krozel
5 KUZM M.Kuzmin
10 LARJ J.Larriba
12 LERM M.Lerman
18 LEVM M.Leventhal
21 MALK K.Malde
29 MARJ J.Maranon
19 MCE E.Mochizuki
2 MILJ J.Miller
15 MMI M.Moeller
16 OBSO IPS Observatory
7 PARN N.Parker
14 RICE E.Richardson
17 RITA A.Ritchie
5 SCHG G.Scholl
12 SIMC C.Simpson
24 STAB B.Gordon-States
14 STEF G.Stefanopoulis
26 STEM G.Stemmler
26 STQ N.Stoikidis
22 SUZM M.Suzuki
23 SZUM M.Szulc
25 TESD D.Teske
8 THR R.Thompson
14 TJV J.Temprano
26 URBP P.Urbanski
19 VARG A.Vargas
9 VELM M.Velea
26 VIDD D.Vidican
19 WILW W.Wilson
28 YESH H.Yesilyaprak

Table III. Means of Raw Group Counts (RG) and Ratios of Spots to Groups (S:G) in May   2003
Day RG S:G Day RG S:G Day RG S:G Day RG S:G
1 7.3 10.4 9 2.2 2.3 17 3.4 5.0 25 3.5 6.3
2 6.1 11.3 10 2.1 1.9 18 3.6 6.4 26 4.2 9.1
3 6.4 10.0 11 3.3 2.4 19 4.4 8.2 27 3.8 10.3
4 6.5 10.2 12 4.5 2.4 20 4.6 7.6 28 4.4 9.3
5 6.8 8.5 13 4.2 4.3 21 4.6 6.5 29 4.3 9.1
6 6.3 6.5 14 4.1 4.4 22 6.0 4.2 30 3.3 9.4
7 4.9 4.7 15 4.7 3.8 23 5.5 2.9 31 3.3 7.9
8 3.5 2.6 16 4.6 3.9 24 3.8 2.4 Mn. 4.5 6.3

Figure 1
Click image to enlarge.
Fig.1. 10 cm Solar Flux and Comparison of Ri (provisional) and Ra Estimates for May 2003 (r=0.981).
(Ri Source: http://sidc..oma.be/index.php3)
(10cm Source: http://www.drao.nrc.ca/icarus)

Figure 2
Click image to enlarge.
Fig.2 Maximum, Mean, and Minimum Ra Values for Each Month from January 2001 to Present.

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

Sudden Ionospheric Disturbances (SID) Recorded During May 2003

(Analysis performed by Michael Hill, SID Analyst)
Date Max Imp Date Max Imp Date Max Imp
Date Max Imp Date Max Imp Date Max Imp
030501 1141 1 030526 0551 2+ 030531 1534 1
030501 1414 1+ 030526 1513 1+ 030531 1631 1+
030501 1922 2 030526 1522 2 030531 1641 2
030502 0307 2 030526 1637 2      
030502 1816 3+ 030527 0349 2+      
030502 1831 2+ 030527 0623 2+      
030503 0951 1- 030527 1506 2+      
030503 1832 1+ 030527 1513 2+      
030504 0813 1- 030527 2307 2      
030504 1351 1- 030528 0025 3      
030504 1507 1- 030528 0610 2+      
030506 1014 2 030528 1425 1      
030506 1403 2+ 030528 1546 1+      
030506 1410 2 030528 1733 1+      
030506 1921 2 030528 1746 1+      
030507 0617 1 030528 1805 1-      
030507 0711 1+ 030528 1847 2      
030507 1028 1 030528 1939 1      
030507 1057 1- 030529 0105 2      
030507 1312 1 030529 0220 1+      
030507 2032 1- 030529 1936 2      
030507 2049 2 030530 0651 1+      
030507 2139 1+ 030530 0921 1      
030508 0554 2+ 030531 0225 2+      
030522 0700 2+ 030531 1417 1      


Importance rating: Duration -1: <191: 19-251+: 26-322: 33-452+: 46-853: 86-1253+: >125

Observer Code Station(s) monitored
W Sharlack A09 NAA
A Clerkin A29 NAA
J Winkler A50 NAA NPM NPR
D Toldo A52 NWC
A Panzer A83 NAA
M Hill A87 NAA
L Anderson A91 NWC
G DiFillipo A93 DHO
T Poulos A95 NAA
R Battaiola A96 DHO
J Wallace A97 NAA
M King A99 HWU
P Campbell A100 NLK
G Bressan A101 DHO
F Steyn A102 NAA NWC
L Observatory A107 DHO
The events listed above meet at least one of the following criteria
  1. Event reported by two or more observers within +/- 5 minutes
  2. Event matched to GOES-8 XRA event to within +/- 15 minutes and event time < 1000 UT
  3. Reported by observer with a high quality rating > 8 (scale 1-10)

SID ratings

Solar Events

May was not an overly active month but it sure got busy towards the end. There were only 53 reported SID events this month, none of them having an importance rating greater than 2+. The middle of the month from the 10th to the 20th had very little activity, if any, on any given day. There was a short active period around the 20th and then the sun became very active on the 25th and remained this way until the end of the month. The GOES-10 Satellite measured only 159 X-Ray events. Of these, only eight were M-Class; however, there were 3 X-Class flares. All three of them were centered on the 28th, which was the most active day indeed. Along with the X-Class flare that occurred that day, there were also 16 C-Class flares as well.

The sun has been keeping things interesting and with these large sunspot groups that continue to emerge as the cycle progesses, things may, in fact, remain that way for the time being. So I hope you all have your systems working optimally and are able to record these interesting bursts of activity that we keep seeing once or twice a month. Thanks to all of you for sumitting data so regularly. I want to thank all of you as well for making your sumittals of data promtly after the end of the month. This is very helpful to me.

Solar Flare Summary
 
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