Solar Activity July 2026, report by Andrew Wood

During July I was able to observe the solar photosphere on sixteen mornings at 10am. Sunspots were observed using a 127mm Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope. Figure 1 shows that sunspot activity started strongly early in July, then fell away sharply mid-month before increasing again.

Figure 1: Graphic representation of sunspot activity during July 2026 through a 127mm Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope and an 8x50 finder-scope, both fitted with full-aperture solar filters. The Relative Sunspot Number (RSN) is calculated by multiplying the number of groups by 10 and adding the total number of sunspots. A.Wood.

Drawings of the photosphere were also made. As well as sunspots, using a 40mm Coronado PST that views the photosphere in Hydrogen-alpha, these drawings also depict filaments and prominences. Figure 2 shows the drawing made on July 24. There was strong activity that day, including 5 groups with a total of 23 sunspots and 3 filaments. There were also 4 plages, which I cannot depict in a drawing. There were no prominences on July 24; although on July 4 and 16  large prominences were observed, and a smaller appearance on July 25.

Figure 2: Drawing of solar activity on July 24, 2026. Sunspots were drawn in dark pencil and faculae in a lighter shade. Lines are depictions of filaments. North at the top. East, South and West clockwise from North.

The Hydrogen-alpha observations for July are summarised in Table 1.

Table 1: Summary of Hydrogen-alpha observations of the solar photosphere during July 2026.

Recorded data was submitted to the Solar Section of the British Astronomical Association Solar – British Astronomical Association.

Reported by Andrew Wood