Wildfire Haze Turns British Columbia Sun Crimson, Revealing Sunspots

A July 22 photograph taken in British Columbia's Okanagan area shows the Sun taking on a deep red hue as smoke from Pacific Northwest wildfires filtered its light. The particulate haze blocked and scattered shorter wavelengths, dimming the Sun and making it appear redder while still exposing prominent sunspots, notably the fast-evolving active region AR 4493. The image was captured by a photographer who used the smoke as a natural solar filter, a technique that would be unsafe without such attenuation.

Experts note that similar scattering makes dawn and dusk scenes more vivid during smoke events. The piece also mentions that billions of years from now the Sun will naturally redden as it enters its red-giant phase.