This is how I explain crepuscular rays, because they are quite a convincing optical illusion. The obvious answer is as FLAT_IS_TRUTH states, that the source of light is "just above" or sometimes "within the" clouds.
I will look at another example, simply because I had prepared the images earlier.
This is taken quite far north of the Equator (and the Tropic of Cancer) over a loch in Scotland and is a frame at 5:42 in the video
" class="bbc_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Crepuscular rays i.e. Optical Illusion of the Sun's Diverging / Spreading RaysCrepuscular Rays Explanation
In the image above I have extended the rays and they do indeed meet at a point that appears close to the earth.
But just consider
how close! The base of Cumulo-Nimbus clouds is usually at about 1,000 m, so I have stretched things a bit and estimated that the apparent position of the sun might be about 2,000 m high and directly that Scottish loch.
But, "Flat Earth Theory" tells us that the sun is at an altitude of roughly 5,000
km, 2,500 times higher than our estimate! Something is obviously wrong! The impossibly low altitude is not the only problem. Here we seem to have the sun directly over Scotland -
probably 3,600 km north of northmost excursion of the sun.So, Flat Earth or Globe, to suggest that the convergence point of these rays shows us a sun at 5,000 km altitude is ridiculous.
Such a low altitude and quite impossible location clearly cannot fit into either the Flat Earth model or with the Globe.
For a long time I found the explanation of "perspective" (yes, that hoary old subject) hard to swallow too.
Then I watched the video I referred to above a bit more carefully, and this is how is seems to pan out.This time I have taken the same picture "removed" the clouds, but left the sun, the rays and the indicators of where the sun was shining through the clouds.
Suddenly, there seems to be no problem! The sun looks to be in quite a normal position in the sky any any light reaching those points on the loch would pass through the location we have marked.
Crepuscular Rays Explanation - no Clouds What we have no way of discerning is how far that spot in the clouds is from us, or from the illuminated spots on the loch surface. Removing the clouds removes a very misleading "point of reference". The bright spot in the clouds
looks just above the middle of the loch, but in reality it is much further from us than that.
To me, and I hope to you, there seems to be no question about it. The presence of the clouds distorts our ideas of perspective.
Mind you now, in my opinion at least, these photos of "Crepuscular Rays" (on their own!) do not provide evidence either way on the Flat ~ Globe debate.The apparent very low height of the sun in situations like this is simply an optical illusion.
The video
" class="bbc_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Crepuscular rays i.e. Optical Illusion of the Sun's Diverging / Spreading Rays I referred to is a bit slow, but probably worth watching
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