Blue field entoptic phenomenon

[shijing]

Re: What are these flashing sparkle specks filled in the air? and other questions

There are a couple threads now that discuss this topic.

http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,21914.0.html

http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,9655.msg70060.html#msg70060

Maybe they should be combined?

Done -- thanks for pointing that out, Bear.

 

[Εἰρήνη]

Every time I look at the sky during the day I see glowing white or golden flares that have sort of glowing tales, like spermatozoa or comets, and they quickly disappear. Their movement is constant and at first it seems to be chaotic. But after a long observation I noticed that they move independently from each other sometimes with change of direction in a specific pattern: circular or crisscross, creating some sort of a grid. It is hard to trace their trajectory because the life cycle of each thread of light is very short. They can easily be seen with open eyes during the day, without having to rub the eyes.

Figuratively speaking, it is like seeing thousands of sparkling fireflies constantly dancing in a specific pattern. It kind of feels like these are electric currents which penetrate everything around.

A hand movement in front of my eyes does not affect the flow of the sparkles and their trajectory in any way. The glowing dots continue to follow their trajectory after blinking. I can see them regardless of my emotional state.

These are neither floaters, nor black that can be seen when the blood pressure shifts. It has nothing to do with phosphenes that people see when they close their eyes and press on them with their fingers. It is similar to what Russ, Mac, R.m. and Puck described earlier in this topic.

I think anyone can see them by looking at the sky during the day with relaxed/blurred/defocused vision. However most people I asked did not see them, or didn’t bother to see.

Each separate sparkle/flare kind of looks like this one on the video but the trajectory is different, and they move much faster:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PV9QA1hDlgM&list=PLATioaLVjbpamxVS5ir59BI2kKs6uyYjE&index=134

In this video, (forward to 22:22) the look of the flare is similar, but not the trajectory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woztSkaWAyU


What is this?
Is this the way our eyes perceive the visual light?

Ark would probably be the best person to share with us some scientific insight about this phenomenon.

 

[Εἰρήνη]

I am trying to obtain more scientific information about this phenomenon. From what I can tell now, I think it is not photopsia or phosphenes. I did check my eyes, and the only problem I have is a very mild astigmatism. But I don't think astigmatism has anything to do with it.

While researching the scientific side of this phenomenon, I accidentally cam across this passage from Carlos Castaneda's "The Power Of Silence"

As I stared at the wondrous sight, filaments of light began to radiate
from everything on that prairie. At first it was like the explosion of an
infinite number of short fibers, then the fibers became long threadlike
strands of luminosity bundled together into beams of vibrating light that
reached infinity. There was really no way for me to make sense of what I was
seeing, or to describe it, except as filaments of vibrating light. The
filaments were not intermingled or entwined. Although they sprang, and
continued to spring, in every direction, each one was separate, and yet all
of them were inextricably bundled together

I am not 100% sure what Castaneda is taking about, but some the description remind me of the flares I see (in bold).

 

[Mikey]

Every time I look at the sky during the day I see glowing white or golden flares that have sort of glowing tales, like spermatozoa or comets, and they quickly disappear. Their movement is constant and at first it seems to be chaotic. But after a long observation I noticed that they move independently from each other sometimes with change of direction in a specific pattern: circular or crisscross, creating some sort of a grid. It is hard to trace their trajectory because the life cycle of each thread of light is very short. They can easily be seen with open eyes during the day, without having to rub the eyes.

Figuratively speaking, it is like seeing thousands of sparkling fireflies constantly dancing in a specific pattern. It kind of feels like these are electric currents which penetrate everything around.

The description of what you're seeing very closely match my own observations, those of others in the forum, and the bio-optical phenomenon called "Blue field entoptic phenomenon":

The blue field entoptic phenomenon or Scheerer's phenomenon (after the German ophthalmologist Richard Scheerer, who first drew clinical attention to it in 1924[1]) is the appearance of tiny bright dots (nicknamed blue-sky sprites) moving quickly along squiggly lines in the visual field, especially when looking into bright blue light such as the sky.[2] The dots are short-lived, visible for a second or less, and traveling short distances along seemingly random, curvy paths. Some of them follow the same path as predecessors. The dots may be elongated along the path like tiny worms. The dots appear in the central field of view, within 10 to 15 degrees from the fixation point.[3] The left and right eye see different dots; someone looking with both eyes sees a mixture.

Most people are able to see this phenomenon. However, it is rather weak, and many people don’t notice it until asked to pay attention.

The dots are white blood cells moving in the capillaries in front of the retina of the eye.[4] Blue light (optimal wavelength: 430 nm) is absorbed by the red blood cells that fill the capillaries. The eye and brain "edit out" the shadow lines of the capillaries, partially by dark adaptation of the photoreceptors lying beneath the capillaries. The white blood cells, which are much rarer than the red ones and do not absorb blue light, create gaps in the blood column, and these gaps appear as bright dots. The gaps are elongated because a spherical white blood cell is too wide for the capillary. Red blood cells pile up behind the white blood cell, showing up like a dark tail.[5] This behavior of the blood cells in the capillaries of the retina has been observed directly in human subjects by adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy, a real time imaging technique for examining retinal blood flow.

There are at least 5 forum members who have noticed the same 'phenomenon'. Discussion is here:

What are these flashing sparkle specks filled in the air?

 

[Mr.Cyan]

Thanks Data, i have seen the specks too sometimes after looking at the sky or occasionally when looking at bright lights; didn't realise that there is a medical explanation for them :)

 

[MusicMan]

Yes, thanks Data. I have seen this effect also, but never considered it to be anything other than normal functioning. It's a bit disconcerting the first time you notice it, until you work it out.
They are quite distinct from the 'floater', which I can also see, whilst staring into the blue sky.
Compared to the floaters, they are tiny.

 

[RedFox]

I remember first seeing them when I was 8-9. Got my friend, sister and Dad to see them too after a few minutes of looking at a bright blue sky.

 

[Εἰρήνη]

Data, thank you very much for your detailed explanation. Blue field entoptic phenomenon is what I see. I am going to look more into it.

Red blood cells pile up behind the white blood cell, showing up like a dark tail

I don't see the dark tail though. It seems that the tails of the sparks are also sparkly white.

Right now the sky is grey and it is raining, and I still see the sparkles. We can see them all day until sunset, regardless of whether conditions. I think our eyes still perceive the dark rainy sky as blue.

I am glad this phenomenon has a scientific explanation. When I told my ophthalmologist about this sparks that I see, she did not know what it was. She just told me to spend less time in front of my PC.

 

[Mikey]

When I told my ophthalmologist about this sparks that I see, she did not know what it was. She just told me to spend less time in front of my PC.

LOL! But this illustrates what networking can accomplish! Having an academic degree is nothing in comparison, because one cannot know everything! :P

 

[Εἰρήνη]

LOL! But this illustrates what networking can accomplish! Having an academic degree is nothing in comparison, because one cannot know everything! :P

You are sooo right, Data!

 

[Vajra91]

Possible entoptic phenomenon

I've been experiencing a curious phenomenon since I was about 14 (actually, it would be more appropriate to say that I've been able to experience it at will, since it requires a small degree of focus). I thought this would be the right thread to write about it.

Whenever I focus for a few seconds either on the empty space between myself and a physical object (at least 5-6 meters away), or on the horizon, I start seeing this... light rain, for lack of a better term. Tiny white threads, or dots leaving streaks behind them, very close to each other. Usually coming from above, but not always perpendicularly to the horizon. And they keep the same angle and direction in respect to my surroundings even if I tilt my head.

You know when it's raining so lightly that you're not even SURE it's raining, until you put your hand out the window and actually feel the tiny drops on your skin? It looks a lot like that.

I remember spending quite a bit of time researching the phenomenon when I first noticed it, trying to understand what it was. Among the visual phenomena I've read about, the only one that appears somewhat similar to what I experience would be "visual snow", mostly because of how close to each other the "particles" appear. The difference is that, with visual snow, those particles seem to move rather chaotically, coming from multiple directions at the same time, whereas the ones I'm seeing all follow the same, very straight pattern, parallel to each other.

Eventually I put the subject aside, as I couldn't find any information about it, save for a couple of testimonies of people describing the same, or at least a very similar, phenomenon. But, I am still rather curious about it.

One possible explanation I came up with is that it could actually be visual snow, and the only reason the particles don't appear to move chaotically to me, is that my "pattern recognition mechanism" is suggesting to my brain that they must be following a pattern that "makes sense", so to speak. In other words, I might be seeing a pattern that is not really there. Just an idea of course.

 

[mkrnhr]

Hi Vajra,
Is it possible that what you are describing as visual snow, or seeing particles, be related to Floaters? If it is the case, it's quite common as I remember that as kids we used to call them "constellations".

 

[Vajra91]

Hi mkrnhr,
No, definitely not floaters. Their appearance is completely diffent, judging both from the wikipedia article you linked and from the floaters I have occasionally had in my eyes in the past.

I was trying to find an image or picture resembling what I'm describing. I think the attached images come close enough. Just imagine a MUCH less "opaque" rain which you can clearly see through.

 

[celestialvisionz]

I have a hypothesis for this phenomenon:

The sky is actually a huge MICROSCOPE because of all the layers of the atmosphere!

I have not only seen what appeared to be atoms flying in and out everywhere possibly electrons or maybe photons, but I have also seen my cells in my eyes countless times just by looking at the bright blue sky

I believe that the sky cannot have any clouds covering when you observe because then it will cover up all the atmospheric layers. Each atmospheric layer is like a lens and the more layers of the sky exposed the more magnification will be exposed.

 

[Tuulikki]

Whenever I focus for a few seconds either on the empty space between myself and a physical object (at least 5-6 meters away), or on the horizon, I start seeing this... light rain, for lack of a better term. Tiny white threads, or dots leaving streaks behind them, very close to each other. Usually coming from above, but not always perpendicularly to the horizon. And they keep the same angle and direction in respect to my surroundings even if I tilt my head.

You know when it's raining so lightly that you're not even SURE it's raining, until you put your hand out the window and actually feel the tiny drops on your skin? It looks a lot like that.

This is identical completely to what I have been seeing for a number of years now. People have asked me if it is raining and I have told them, very lightly, when it turns out it is not raining at all. I can see it best when I look at a dark object like a dark green hedge. It is nothing to do with floaters which I have had for many years. It looks to me like I would imagine visible energy to look, which sounds completely impossible I know.

I also experience the little "fireflies" phenomenon as well. Also when I look at the clear night sky I can see the stars as usual. I can also see a huge density of faint white dots over the entire sky. It is a bit like what the Milky Way used to look like before we had light distraction at night problems in the UK. It is that sort of density of dots but over the entire sky.