[jimster]

The sun is still up there at night, and can't be seen because it is too far, atmospheric scattering or perspective and vanishing point. Both of these are gradual and linear. Why does the sun not get progressively smaller and dimmer until midnight, when it would again gradually become visible? All day, bright enough to light up the entire dome until just before sunset, then the rate of darkening gets waaay faster and soon completely wrong. Why the suddeen change in the darkening rate?

[totallackey]

The sun is still up there at night, and can't be seen because it is too far, atmospheric scattering or perspective and vanishing point. Both of these are gradual and linear. Why does the sun not get progressively smaller and dimmer until midnight, when it would again gradually become visible? All day, bright enough to light up the entire dome until just before sunset, then the rate of darkening gets waaay faster and soon completely wrong. Why the suddeen change in the darkening rate?

You are claiming that light is emitted and extinguished in a "...gradual and linear fashion..."?

That is the biggest pile of hogwash I have seen in quite a while.

[juner]

You are claiming that light is emitted and extinguished in a "...gradual and linear fashion..."?

That is the biggest pile of hogwash I have seen in quite a while.

Refrain from unhelpful, AR-worthy posts in the upper fora. Warned.

[theEdgyOne]

you cannot think of the sun as a normal light, emitting light in all directions evenly, it is a spotlight that has it's most concentrated point in the middle and gradually becomes darker as the center moves away from you until it simply isn't on you anymore.

it is simply that after a gradual decrease at a certain point the spotlight just stops being gradual and just shuts off

if you would like a visual model email me and i will make one for you

[QED]

you cannot think of the sun as a normal light, emitting light in all directions evenly, it is a spotlight that has it's most concentrated point in the middle and gradually becomes darker as the center moves away from you until it simply isn't on you anymore.

it is simply that after a gradual decrease at a certain point the spotlight just stops being gradual and just shuts off

if you would like a visual model email me and i will make one for you

If I’m understanding this correctly, then as the sun turns away from us, we should see its light gradually diminish until it reaches some threshold value - and then disappears?

If so, do we observe this to happen?

[theEdgyOne]

yes we do observe it happening, from light refraction we see it as the sunset, it's border of the spotlight, or what i think is it's border is the orange or red tint you see with the sunset.

[stack]

yes we do observe it happening, from light refraction we see it as the sunset, it's border of the spotlight, or what i think is it's border is the orange or red tint you see with the sunset.

At what angle is the spotlight focused in relation to us, the observers?

[QED]

yes we do observe it happening, from light refraction we see it as the sunset, it's border of the spotlight, or what i think is it's border is the orange or red tint you see with the sunset.

Huh. Ya know, at sunset I don’t see the light diminish. I just see it get cutoff. Plus, it cuts off at the exact place where it looks to hit the ground (or whatever else is in the way - like a mountain).

From a direct observation point of view, I’d say that isn’t due to the sun turning, but due to something in between us and the sun - behind which the sun is moving.

[AATW]

if you would like a visual model email me and i will make one for you

Can you not post it here?
Because I can’t visualise what you’re talking about at all. The brightness of the sun is more or less consistent across its diameter for most of the day. Viewing through a filter reveals some variation but it doesn’t fade out at the sides to the point where you can safely look at it with the naked eye.
At sunset the sun does appear dimmer because the light is going through more of the atmosphere and is scattered more - at sunset you can often look at it safely and the colour of it varies across the sun’s surface. But it’s the same size as it was at midday, you’re not simply looking at the dimmer edges of a bigger spotlight and if you are why can’t you see those edges the rest of the day even using a filter?