A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of particle-scattered sunlight are essentially parallel shafts separated by darker shadowed volumes. Their apparent convergence in the sky is a visual illusion from linear perspective. The same illusion causes the apparent convergence of parallel lines on a long straight road or hallway at a distant vanishing point. The scattering particles that make sunlight visible may be air molecules or particulates.
Sunbeams in Nevada during a sunset
Daytime sunbeams as seen from the ISS, illustrating their parallel nature
Crepuscular rays as seen from Taipei, Taiwan (2018)
These anticrepuscular rays appear to converge at the antisolar point, as viewed from an aircraft above the clouded ocean.
Sunlight is a portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. On Earth, sunlight is scattered and filtered through Earth's atmosphere as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon. When direct solar radiation is not blocked by clouds, it is experienced as sunshine, a combination of bright light and radiant heat (Atmospheric). When blocked by clouds or reflected off other objects, sunlight is diffused. Sources estimate a global average of between 164 watts to 340 watts per square meter over a 24-hour day; this figure is estimated by NASA to be about a quarter of Earth's average total solar irradiance.
The Sun, as seen from low Earth orbit overlooking the International Space Station. This sunlight is not filtered by the lower atmosphere, which blocks much of the solar spectrum.
Sunlight shining upon two different sides of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Sunrise on the Jersey Shore at Spring Lake, Monmouth County (above), and sunset on the Shore at Sunset Beach, Cape May County (below). Both are filtered through high stratus clouds.
Sunrise over the Gulf of Mexico and Florida. Taken on 20 October 1968 from Apollo 7.
Sunlight shining through clouds, giving rise to crepuscular rays
