why am I sometimes able to look directly at the sun and make out it's shape without effecting my eyes?

Yeah, if it's right after sunrise or before sunset the light's travelling through much more air than normal to reach you, and possibly some distant clouds.

As mentioned, don't stare at it, it could still be bright enough to do damage.

I’d really you recommend you be careful... while the light of the sun may be dimmed by clouds, fog, pollution, or other particulates in the air, there are still damaging ultraviolet rays that can penetrate & damage your eyes.

The intensity of the light that hurts your eyes can be dimmed by stuff in the air so it no longer hurts, but that doesn’t mean it’s safe to stare...

I can't see any shape, is all that I can say. If there is a modest cloud or fog layer that dims the sun, then I can see its shape, but otherwise all I see is a big bright blur. And since there is nothing of value to see and there is a risk to my vision in trying, I pretty well gave up on it. I tried again during this past eclipse but of course it was still a wasted effort. Even my phone camera only saw a bright blur, although I did get a refraction image (lens aberration) of the partial eclipse on the side of the photo image.

So, if you can see a good image of the sun, you are either in a place with a thick atmospheric filter or you have cataracts (your eye lens is doing the filtering). Or your brain is distorting the actual image.

The sun is affecting your eyes an doing them harm. There are no nerves in the retina so you cannot feel it being affected. There is more air to look through when the sun is nearer to the horizon, but there is still a lot of UV

You are able to look at the sun early in the morning, but while you are doing it you are "burning" what's inside your eyes without you being aware of it.

For the first time ever on this forum, seriously, don't do that.

That's because you are looking through a lot thiker layer of atmosphere and there can be dust and sand in the atmosphere. you can STILL damage your eyes permanently if you look too long.

https://www.livescience.com/61128-solar-retinopath...

Cataracts from UV damage ARE NOT FUN.

It could be affecting your eyes in the long run. Seriously, never look at the sun- not during an eclipse, and not in the morning. NEVER.