Astronomy... Get a Straight Answer "Are the Sun's Rays Parallel? The Sun covers about half a degree of the sky. So rays that come from opposite edges of the Sun have directions which differ by half a degree and are not parallel. Rays which reach your left and right eye from a distant star, on the other hand, are very close to parallel--they may meet somewhere at the star, at the same point (and then they converge) or separated points (and then they probably diverge), but the eye and even the the telescope cannot resolve such details. Rays from the same point on the Sun are pretty much like those from a star. But again, "same point" is hard to pin down--even sunspots may be thousands of kilometers wide." And besides, that's why we have shadows with soft edges, 'cause rays come from different positions in space.

-- erlik