system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why can you look directly at the sun during sunrise or sunset but not when it's middle today?
gpt
When the sun is directly overhead, it's light is being filtered by much less of the atmosphere than if it were peeking over the horizon. This is also why the sky appears more blue overhead, and appears more white-ish the closer you get to the horizon. You're literally looking through more atmosphere.