APOD: July 30 – Red Sun trough Wildfire Smoke

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day this week features a striking photograph of the Sun turned deep red by wildfire smoke. Captured on July twenty-second in British Columbia's Okanagan region, the image shows how smoke from Pacific Northwest fires can act as a natural solar filter, dimming our star and shifting its color dramatically. Several sunspots are visible in the eerie image, including AR forty-four ninety-three, a particularly active solar region. The smoke scatters blue light, leaving predominantly red wavelengths to reach Earth—an effect that also makes sunsets and sunrises in the region especially colorful. It's an ironic preview of what our Sun will actually become in about six billion years, as it enters its red giant phase.

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