Summer Fires

We have had incredible weather this past few months.  Moderate temperatures, light to no wind, and "cloudless" sky's.  Ideal weather for getting the telescope out and doing some nighttime observing! The catch?  Heavy haze due to the numerous fires ongoing in Idaho, Washington and Oregon.  This haze has been a staple in Eastern Idaho since early August.  On Friday, September 21st, the haze was particularly bad.  I was amazed at how much the sun was obscured even 30+ degrees above the horizon.  We were traveling to Boise to watch Raegan run at the Bob Firman Invitational when I stopped to take a few pictures of the setting sun.

Satellite image of the fires in Idaho taken in September 2012.  Pocatello would be near the bottom right of this image.  These fires contributed to the hazy conditions we had from late July through late September.

Taken just outside of Mountain Home, Idaho.  It was a specifically bad day for smoke in Idaho!

Note the sunspot visible through a 300mm lens.  No filters.

Cropped view of the image above.  This image looks very similar to the images I took with a solar filter through my telescope.  The sunspot 1575 is visible in the 10 o'clock position .