<P> Crepuscular rays / krɪˈpʌskjʊlər / (more commonly known as sunbeams, sun rays,), in atmospheric optics, are rays of sunlight that appear to radiate from the point in the sky where the sun is located . These rays, which stream through gaps in clouds (particularly stratocumulus) or between other objects, are columns of sunlit air separated by darker cloud - shadowed regions . Despite seeming to converge at a point, the rays are in fact near - parallel shafts of sunlight . Their apparent convergence is a perspective effect, similar, for example, to the way that parallel railway lines seem to converge at a point in the distance . </P> <P> The name comes from their frequent occurrences during twilight hours (those around dawn and dusk), when the contrasts between light and dark are the most obvious . Crepuscular comes from the Latin word "crepusculum", meaning twilight . </P>

What are the rays from the sun called