sunrays

[devayaani]

Thank you for enlightening me.
I know I should not directly look at the sun as it can permanently damage the retina leading to blindness.
However, I can easily look at the sun at the sunrise and sunset.
How is it possible?
Does that extra bit of travel in the earth's atmosphere by the sunrays at sunset and sunrise make it possible? If so where has the sunray's energy gone at these times not harming my retina?
Again, I can see the full disc of the sun when it is thick fog making the sun look like the harmless moon in day time. What frequency light rays are absorbed by the fog/mist thus making the sun look like a white moon?
Are they absorbed or dispersed or converted in some other ways?
thanking you

[wildwood]

I would guess that the difference in distance the sunlight has to travel through the atmosphere to you between noon and dusk/dawn is considerably more than an 'extra bit'. Perhaps as much as four times or more, depending on the time of the year and where on the World you are.

Consider the extremes of climate between the Equator and the Poles.

[R1Geezer]

The same amount of rays are spread over a much much larger area at sunset, and also most of them are not actualy reaching your eyes also the ones that are are going through much more atmosphere, The shorter wavelenghts are also getting filtered out so all you see is a relatively small amount of red light.

[devayaani]

Thank you Wildwood and R1Geezer. I didn't realise the difference in the distance travelled in the earth's atmosphere was that much. Again, spreading of the rays in wider area as you have pointed out.
thanks.

[devayaani]

Sorry, I am still wondering what wavelength of light is absorbed/reflected/ in the mist or fog in the day time making the sun mild looking and its entire disc visible.

[jake-the-peg]

Don't forget it's not just the air in the atmosphere but dust particles too.

At low elevations the light travels through much more of the lower atmosphere where you'll get a higher density of dust and other contaminants

[R1Geezer]

The distance itself is irrelevant, shorter wave lengths of light tend to get filtered out by the atmosphere when the sun is low.