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All photos taken by and © Bruce G. Marcot unless otherwise noted.
Taken at dawn, 4 September 2017:
13 April 2021:
This morning, the sun is red, the sky is orange, well after sunrise ... Wildfire smoke continues to blanket the sky here (https://fire.airnow.gov/), but luckily so far, not too close to ground level.
With the sun partially obscured, it's an opportune time to take its portrait, on a hunt for ... sunspots!
But this morning's portrait, above, looks as clean as can be.
So here is a comparison with NASA's SOHO sun observatory live feed (https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/sunspots/):
Clean! No spots.
This is a known recent phenomenon, too (https://www.space.com/is-our-sun-going-into-hibernation), but in the long run, it's probably nothing extraordinary.
But I will keep watch ...