If using the AE map, when viewed from the equator, the race car or jet ski racing along the circular equator line will first appear North East, then appear to move horizontally as it gets closer. Then it passes you it will come from due east. As it moves farther away it will continue to move horizontally and finally disappear when it is North West.
You can't see for hundreds or thousands of miles through the atmosphere. A jet ski traveling along the equator and receding from you would disappear at North West on a Flat Earth? What are you talking about? Things disappear far closer than that.
This is the crux of your issue for imaging how the sun should look over a Flat Earth. You are imaging that we can see forever into the distance and through the atmosphere. We cannot.
"You are imaging that we can see forever into the distance and through the atmosphere"
...of course, I am not. I am using your analogy of the race car racing along the equator, but I don't prefer the analogy so I will discard it.
- On the day of the equinox
- Observer on the equator
- Using the AE map
- The sun is visible for about 12 hours
This is the expected observation:
When the sun first "rises" it is about 25% of the way around the circle of the equator. The observer will see it first appear North East. As the sin continues to rise it will move towards dues east. When the sun passes overhead at local solar noon it will pass from due east. As the sun continues to travel it will move North West until is finally "sets" about 25% of the way around the circle of the equator.
The position of the sun is dictated by the map. This clearly doesn't match observations. Not good news for the AE map.
The observation is that on the equinox, for all locations on the equator, the sun rises almost exactly due east and sets almost exactly due west. On that day the sun traces a straight line across the sky for every location on the equator.
The only possible FE map that allows the sun to rise due east, trace a straight path across the sky, then set due west is one with a straight equator. However, this generally requires a Pac-Man feature. Few people like to go with a Pac-Man map.
We only see the sun's projection on the atmolayer when it is nearby...
I have never seen evidence suggesting the sun is projected onto the air. What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
Given that at sea level we can only see perhaps 30 miles through the atmosphere
This is not a given. We can see the stars through ALL the atmosphere as they are just above the horizon. What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
It seems there is a lot of work to do on the equinox explanation. Or, maybe just abandon the idea since it can't work.