That the sun appears to be resting on clouds, and clouds are visible through the eclipsed part of the sun, makes me think that something is seriously wrong with astronomy.
“That the sun appears to be resting on clouds, and clouds are visible through the eclipsed part of the sun, makes me think that something is seriously wrong with astronomy.” [DannyTN, post 7]
Your analysis neglects scattering of light inside Earth’s atmosphere. And also reflection. Both phenomena can cause light rays to seem to “bend” around apparently solid objects and strike other surfaces.
Light easily reflects from clouds, and in this image it then illuminates other clouds, that happen to be located between the portion of the Sun’s disc obscured by Earth’s Moon and the camera lens. You aren’t seeing the bright clouds “through” anything except intervening air. The clouds (and the air molecules) are a great deal closer to the camera than is the Moon, or the Sun.
Scattering causes beams of light to go in many different directions from the original beams from the source. It happens to different degrees depending on the wavelength of the light; such differential scattering causes an otherwise clear sky to appear blue, and to appear in different colors depending on what other particles are suspended in the air. It also causes the glow seen before sunrise, and after sunset.