  We use archival daily spot coverage measurements from Howard et al. (1984) to
study the rotational modulation of the Sun as though it were a distant star. A
quasi-periodic Gaussian process measures the solar rotation period
$P_\mathrm{rot} = 26.3 \pm 0.1$ days, and activity cycle period $P_\mathrm{cyc}
= 10.7 \pm 0.3$ years. We attempt to search for evidence of differential
rotation in variations of the apparent rotation period throughout the activity
cycle and do not detect a clear signal of differential rotation, consistent
with the null results of the hare-and-hounds exercise of Aigrain et al. (2015).
The full reconstructed solar light curve is available online.
