In hopes of documenting the time-lapse formation of a lenticular cloud over Tillamook Head, photographer Cynthia Malkowski took these raw images using her cell phone on Jan. 9.

“What I saw instead was this breathtaking image of the sun over the mountain, filtered through afternoon cloud layers,” she said. “It is enormous in appearance because the earth is at its closet point in its orbit to the sun. This is called the perihelion, which also explains the recent king tide occurrences that we have marveled at over the last few weeks.”

Conversely, the 2019 aphelion, or the farthest point in our orbit, will occur on July 3. There will be about 7 percent less solar radiation, so temperatures will probably be cooler than normal.