What's with the Sun?

I don’t know how to prove it, but the sun seems dim this year, compared to last. It also seems to be more blue. I live in an area where smog shouldn’t really be an issue, or have changed much. But, that big yellow orb in the sky doesn’t seem to be packing the heat that it once did.

Anyone else have this feeling?

If you’d asked this question last weekend I would have told you how I was melting! :smiley:

Its pretty warm here on the West Coast of the US!

There is more going on in the sky and our eyes than smog. Would be great if you could share a few photos of the sky you see. :wink:

Great idea. Maybe I’ll take the K5 on a field trip. Only thing is - I think the pics might be less telling than if I’d taken some similar photos maybe a couple years ago, when I think things were different.

It’s not a heat thing. It’s plenty warm here today (maybe 95 for high). It’s more like a shift to blue. Some days I look out my window and it seems like I’m staring at an IR photo, processed for enhanced blue or something. Very weird.

Any chance it’s air pollution? When living in London we had bluish light occasionally. Like a couple of times a year.

Well, it’s really the removal of air pollution, caused by high winds, that brought about the change that caught my attention. Where we live, we have only a little smog, but it doesn’t change much because we never have high winds. Many days we have dead calm.

About a month or so ago we had unusually high winds for several days due to a tropical storm. The wind blew out all of the smog, and that’s when I noticed the weird coloring in the sky. Even though we’ve haven’t had much wind during the time that’s passed til now, the weird coloring persists.

So, I think it’s been that way for awhile, but it took the wind change for me to notice it. It’s definitely not like it was a few years ago.

I read a blog post from some guy who claims that the UV mixture getting to the earth’s surface has changed to include much more UV B than before (relative to UV A). That’s a little bit the way it looks to me - like the blue and UV has shifted up.

Hopefully, it’s not my eyes that have changed LOL …

The sun emits all types of radiation. Visually, sunshine changes colour when the composition of the atmosphere and your position relative to the sun changes. That is why colours are different at solar noon and sunset for example, or in the summer and winter.

An example of how the atmosphere influences colour is the sunrise or sunset. Examine dozens of photos of them, or better yet observe them directly, with eye protection of course. Don’t they all look different? Don’t they sometimes contain hues that you wouldn’t expect in the sky? Have you ever seen images that you would quickly dismiss as fake but are actually observable? There is a lot more going on than smog and air quality, and there are many types of smog and air quality conditions to begin with.

PS To clarify, I used the sunset and sunrise as an example because the angle of the sun at that time allows for much more atmospheric scattering to happen than other moments.

PPS Previously, I mentioned that it has to do with our perception as well. In your case, I am fairly certain that it is the sky that has a different colour and that affects how you see the sun. If you do a quick web search, you would realize that the sun is white. Check out

What Color do YOU think the Sun is?
Color Choosing Paradox, also Warmer vs Cooler.

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Well yeah - I know it’s really white. Looks yellow tho :slight_smile:

I’m usually looking out around noon or early afternnoon, and usually in the same direction, and every day it still seems to me to be much different than before (meaning a few years ago). Don’t know why. I would also say it looks weaker, although that’s not backed up by the thermometer.

See video at Solar Minimum is Coming | Science Mission Directorate.

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That’s an interesting article. Thanks. I looked up the definition for the “grand minimum” - and that event seems like something one might be able to perceive with the eyes (represents a 7 % dip in the output of the sun if I read correctly). But, the grand minimum is slated for sometime between now and 20 years from now. Last one was in 1750, when Thames froze over.

Still … not too sure if related to what I’m seeing.

The sun is heading toward solar minimum now. Sunspot counts were relatively high in 2014, and now they are sliding toward a low point expected in 2019-2020.

It isn’t an on and off but a continuum with maxima and minima. Also pay attention to what is being said about the Earth’s atmospheric response to solar activity. Remember it is the atmosphere that changes the sun’s appearance.

I am not sharing this article because it is the answer, but because it is interesting without being esoteric.

Right. I see your point. It does say (not on the referenced article, but on an article about grand minimums) - that the upper atmosphere can collapse. That would change the “look” - and could explain the purported increase in UV B as well …