But your model would have rays of light or even the appearance of a second sun coming from around the earth due to light of the sun being bent back before reaching earth.
No, there is still only one route for the light to take, its just that I am saying that route could be curved.If you draw a ray trace back from your "probe" towards the extended flat plane, that ray isnt drawn straight, but curved, and so its origin is Space, so althouh your probe is pointing directly towards the flat plane, it cannot see it.
Your ray of light comming from the sun should start to curve imediatly, as should the reflected light