MissDemeanor

so can someone tell me......

why is it that over here,at around 5ish when the sun is still high in the sky you can look straight at it without it hurting your eyes?I mean,proper focus on it..with no blurry outline so it looks like the moon?..and it doesnt hurt?

MacScot

You're looking through a combination of a thick layer of dust in the atmosphere close to the ground (up to 3,000 m) and humidity (water vapour) at this time of year...I think. Wouldn't try it in Nov and Dec when air is clearer.

MissDemeanor

That makes sense..and there was me hoping I had special powers of sight like superman.never mind.

MacScot

Just made it up...though it seems to make sense.

You could also try taking off your sunglasses !

MissDemeanor

I wasnt wearing any.

The Dean

Curvature of the Earth.............

The planet is an oblate spheroid (round in the middle, flatter at the poles), which means light is not quite coming straight at you like it would be at say the North Pole....

....... plus MacScot is right about dust and stuff........

By the way - on the doom-and-gloom 'global warming' thing...... the Earth may be getting warmer at the northernmost and southernmost bits but between the Tropic of Cancer (the Middle East, roughly) and the Tropic of Capricorn (northern Australia, northern South Africa), it is cooling...... a lot..........

.......... I'll get me coat..........

Bijilo123

When the sun is directly above you it passes straight through the atmosphere. When the sun is at 45 deg then the light passes through more atmosphere (divide the original by cos 45).

Near the horizon it passes through the maximum atmosphere and so the light is attenuated the most.

The Dean

Yea that's what I meant...... you say it so much better though.........

"Attenuated"? Hmmm, very good........

More trivia: If you stand on the Tropic of Cancer at midday on the Summer Solstice (21 June), the sun is directly overhead............ at no other time is this the case...........

.... I'm sure I left me coat here somewhere...........

Buzz Lightyear

do you do allot of welding? if so try taking the goggles off when looking at the sun or indeaded anyone..

MissDemeanor

Next time ive got the welder out I will try it.

Spugsy

same reason there's no real beautiful blue skies like back home, same reason sometimes the Burj is 400 metres in front of you but you can't see it - pollution and sand from all the construction.

MataHari

it's not always like that though...you do get bright days here and then the views are amazing...

littlejimmy

Views of sand and sky are amazing?

rowell

Been here 3 months not seen a blue sky yet, one thing I miss about the Uk