[coboren3]

You should post the top pic to SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids. They love to see atmospheric aberrations (sun dogs and such) of the sun such as this one.

[OregonJim]

The smoke from the Oregon/Washington wildfires is widespread - several of the major roads are closed. I drove through the northern Rockies from east to west a couple of days ago. It was bizarre to not be able to see the mountains at all - the entire landscape was featureless due to heavy smoke!