Sunglasses was an example not a tool for viewing the sun. The dark glass was the one I was making the argument with. Like I already said, dark glass allows us to see the edges of the sun definitely.
It's true that a dark glass will eliminate the stray arms of a glare and allow the glare to become more defined. I agree with you there on that. But I am not speaking of the starry effects of the glare. I am speaking of the glare itself.
The stray arms of a glare are not a mechanism of the atmosphere, but a phenomena of the human eye. When a high frequency of light is shone directly at the eye starry bands will appear to irradiate from the light source. We can confirm that the starry arms of a glare are not part of the atmosphere by moving the edge of our hand up near the eye and attempting to obscure the arms of a glare with the edge of the hand. You will find that to be impossible. The arms of a glare will overlap your hand - a prime indication that the arms of a glare originate within the eye.
The glare phenomenon consists of two parts; one part is the magnification of light through the atmosphere and the other is the starry bands which manifest upon the retina of the eye. While the starry bands can be eliminated through the use of a dark glass, the magnification of the light rays upon the atmosphere cannot. The magnification of the illuminating body is part of the atmosphere, not of the eye, and therefore cannot be seen through by dimming the brightness of a scene.
When a dark glass is used on the sun the stray arms upon the eye are eliminated and only the dimmed magnification of the sun's image upon the atmosphere remains. By using a dark glass we can eliminate the eye effect and get a well defined look at the glare - the magnification of the sun's light upon the atmosphere.
Just the same, if we put on a pair of sunglasses during a summer day we can eliminate the stray arms of a car's glare and see the well defined details of the glare's effect upon the atmosphere. The glare still exists when sunglasses are worn, the glare is just better defined and dimmed in intensity.
If it were true that sunglasses or a dark glass could eliminate the glare from a car's hood on a summer day, the glare would not be visible at all when sunglasses are worn. However, since the glare
is still visible when sunglasses are worn, and since the only effect is a dimmed and better defined glare, we can therefore deduce that the sunglasses have only eliminated the star-effect of the glare which manifests upon the retina of the human eye.