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What makes them do this?

Mart
in Astronomy and Cosmology

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I've frequently seen what appear to be rays of light passing through gaps in clouds. These always diverge fron the sun's position. But since the sun is so far away it's effectively a point source so what makes the rays not parallel?

Wouldn't the rays spread out more the further away the sun was? It's still pretty far from a point, anyway...

 

Although it could also be partially an illusion because the gaps in the clouds are far away and look smaller.

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