Over the last year, I’ve noticed increased media stories about the sun. The news coverage has mainly focused on topics related to our star’s 11-year solar cycle. This isn’t surprising since solar activity has been escalating since December 2019 and is on a trajectory to peak in July 2025.1 That’s why we’ve witnessed a greater frequency of northern lights, flares, and sunspots.
So when I woke up today with no Seattle clouds in sight, I decided to take photos of the sun. Why not, I thought to myself. It had been six years since I last did so—and that was for the 2017 Great American Eclipse.
This morning turned out better than I expected. Indeed, the sun presented a handful of nice sunspots. For the photos below, I used a Canon 70d with a Tamron 18-400mm lens (at 400mm) set at ISO 100, f/30, with a 1/10 second exposure. I also used the solar filter I kept from the 2017 eclipse!
Sources
1 US Department of Commerce, N. (2020, September 15). Hello solar cycle 25. National Weather Service. https://www.weather.gov/news/201509-solar-cycle#:~:text=We%20are%20now%20in%20Solar%20Cycle%2025%20with%20peak%20sunspot,Solar%20Cycle%201%20in%201755.
Photos by Wayne McGraw
The Garden Astronomer 
2 thoughts on “The Sun: Our Powerhouse”