Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Winter sun looks dark

maxpayne - 29-1-2014 at 12:27

Today, I watched the sun, and after 2-3 seconds it became dark with only sunlight on the edges of what it looked like solid dark body. I repeated this and every time I get the same results.

I asked my father about this and he was not surprised at all. He said he knew about this phenomenon and that it can be seen every winter.

Why am I seeing this?

Mailinmypocket - 29-1-2014 at 12:50

Is this happening when you look at the sun directly? It is probably something similar to photokeratitus (snow blindness). You really shouldn't be staring at the sun until it turns black though...

Sedit - 29-1-2014 at 13:33

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterimage

Your burning out the receptors in your eyes due to over exposure to light since it takes a finite amount of time for them to rebound after being exposed to light. To long a period of time staring at bright light and you will loose the image you are looking at. Its not special to the winter sun and odds are it has to do with the dimness of the wintersun which allows you to actually look at it long enough for this effect to happen.

maxpayne - 29-1-2014 at 13:36

Yes, directly, with one eye or with both. The light goes off like a curtain from up to bottom every time in about 2-3 seconds once I start looking. Once sun became dark I can look at it very long without having any problems or eye tensions. And the light on the edges start rolling randomly around to left or right direction.

maxpayne - 29-1-2014 at 13:44

Thanks Sedit.

I might apply some dark filters just to see if the effect is sustained.

Zyklon-A - 29-1-2014 at 14:09

Do your eyes hurt at all? After looking at the sun.

maxpayne - 29-1-2014 at 14:16

Quote: Originally posted by Zyklonb  
Do your eyes hurt at all? After looking at the sun.


No, I do not feel pain or any problems with my eyes after looking at winter sun. Also never had any problems with my eyes or headache (including my whole family).

I do not want anyone to try this, however, one should decide by himself. I know that UV is harmful to eyes, but I want to look at it, the stars and the whole sky. And I will continue to do so.

Sedit - 29-1-2014 at 14:25

Iv been doing it my entire life since I was a kid so I know exactly what your talking about when it turns a purplish green color however since I got older its become much harder to do because I just can't stare at the sun without it resulting in pain.

But yes, all it is is the photo receptors in your eyes getting fatigued.

Zyklon-A - 29-1-2014 at 14:32

Cool, I'm going to try it...
Edit: At first it didn't work, my eyes just hurt a lot... but after I tried it a few times, I found I could look straight at the sun without my eyes hurting at all. It wasn't black, more like blue-green, but not very bright.

[Edited on 29-1-2014 by Zyklonb]

maxpayne - 29-1-2014 at 14:54

Thank you all for valuable info.

Zyklonb:

I saw it dark, not black but dark, like dimmed sun leaving only edges at full sunlight. But this curtain effect, did you see that also?

I'm living in Europe, and it is night now, so I can't go out and check colors again. Will do that as soon as possible.

Zyklon-A - 29-1-2014 at 15:01

Right, it was Mailinmypocket who said black. I'm not sure about the 'curtain effect', I will look at it some more. Here on Pluto I can't see the sun well now either, JK. I live in Texas and the sun should be visible for about 2-3 hours.
Edit: I still can't see the 'curtain effect', AFAIK, I get this sort of 'tunnel vision', thing The sun gets dark green, and all around it, is these light waves, most are colorless, but some are light pink, I think. It's very hard to explain...


[Edited on 29-1-2014 by Zyklonb]

[Edited on 29-1-2014 by Zyklonb]

bfesser - 29-1-2014 at 16:19

I can't tell if this is trolls trolling trolls, or if you're really stupid enough to stare at the sun.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sungazing" target="_blank">
Quote:
The practice of sungazing is dangerous. Looking directly at the Sun for even brief periods of time may cause blindness or severe damage to the eye. Solar retinopathy, damage to the eye’s retina due to solar radiation, and blindness to varying degrees and persistence frequently result from sungazing during a solar eclipse. Although vision loss due to this damage is generally reversible, permanent damage and loss of vision have been reported. Most eye care professionals advise patients to avoid looking directly at the sun. Exposure to ultraviolet radiation, produced by the sun, is associated with damage to the eye, including pterygium and cataracts. <img src="../scipics/_wiki.png" />
</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photokeratitis" target="_blank">Photokeratitis</a> <img src="../scipics/_wiki.png" />
<a href="http://gizmodo.com/5926497/what-happens-when-you-stare-at-the-sun" target="_blank">What Happens When You Stare Directly at the Sun</a> <img src="../scipics/_ext.png" /> (Gizmodo)


<img src="http://latewire.com/images/fekken_random/sean_gullette_pi_movie.jpg" />

Random - 29-1-2014 at 16:24

Exactly as bfesser said and also you aint gonna feel nything until its too late anyway.

So keep staring if yoi dont value your eyes. I do.

maxpayne - 29-1-2014 at 16:31

Yeah, I was waiting for you guys. The high-priests who came to make people behave as they want them to, to scare them with some stupid examples.

Well, don't cross a road, you might get hit by a car!

Random - 29-1-2014 at 16:33

Well then enjoy the sight.

Prometheus23 - 29-1-2014 at 16:36

That's...that's not really the same thing though...

DraconicAcid - 29-1-2014 at 16:38

Quote: Originally posted by maxpayne  
Yeah, I was waiting for you guys. The high-priests who came to make people behave as they want them to, to scare them with some stupid examples.

Well, don't cross a road, you might get hit by a car!

Hey- you want to burn your eyes out, go right ahead. Be a real rebel and use binoculars if that's your thing. Don't say we didn't warn you.

But rest assured that our objections have nothing to do with wanting to make people do what they are told.

maxpayne - 29-1-2014 at 16:40

I was talking to short exposure, not more than few seconds just to check this effect.

If mods believe this thread could make damage to others, please delete it immediately. I already said that UV is harmful and I do not push anyone to do it.

IrC - 29-1-2014 at 16:43

Quote: Originally posted by maxpayne  
Yeah, I was waiting for you guys. The high-priests who came to make people behave as they want them to, to scare them with some stupid examples.

Well, don't cross a road, you might get hit by a car!



By the time your late 30's to 40's roll around you will wish you had listened to bfesser. You will start noticing tiny moving dark things in your vision, by your 50's they will be bad enough to make reading a book difficult, or at least very annoying. I know whereof I speak this is experience not opinion. These 'floaters' will never go away, will continue to get worse with age. No cure. If the damage is bad enough blindness can result. Floaters are tiny bits of what used to be rods, cones, various and sundry other pieces of what used to be your eye which were destroyed and now forever float around interfering with vision. Few things cause this damage more rapidly than the sun (or infrared from other sources), and often with no noticeable pain. However in a quarter century you will be unable to dismiss the fact of the harm you stupidly caused yourself.

I just love to quote a question from Geena Davis, "were you always this stupid or did you take lessons".

Zyklon-A - 29-1-2014 at 16:51

@IrC, Are you saying that very short exposers (one time of looking at the sun for <15 seconds) can have such a drastic affect in your later years?

cyanureeves - 29-1-2014 at 16:55

i have done the same thing with the sun and have had welder's flash and plasma light got my peripheral. i would listen to bfesser this time too.

Zyklon-A - 29-1-2014 at 17:01

Yes, I definitely won't be doing that ever again, I knew it was bad, but I had no idea that such permanent damage could be done in such a short period of time...

DrAldehyde - 29-1-2014 at 17:02

Looking at the sun is like looking at cleavage. You don't stare at it, it's too risky. You get a sense of it then you look away.

[Edited on Jan-30-2014 by DrAldehyde]

Sedit - 29-1-2014 at 17:04

This is an interesting effect but if you wish to view the sun just get a pair of welders glasses so you can just look at it directly and clearly.

Zyklon-A - 29-1-2014 at 17:22

I don't think the affect would be the same, because it (the affect) is caused from burning out the receptors in your eyes due to over exposure to light, so, if you use welding goggles, you won't burn out your receptors (as much) thus you wont notice anything happening. I think.


[Edited on 30-1-2014 by Zyklonb]

maxpayne - 29-1-2014 at 17:49

Quote: Originally posted by Sedit  
This is an interesting effect but if you wish to view the sun just get a pair of welders glasses so you can just look at it directly and clearly.


Thank you again for wise advice, I'll do it that way (again only short exposure).

Also thanks zyklonb for testing, you did not get permanent damage of any kind. But, don't do it anymore, there is no point you risk anything.

IrC - 29-1-2014 at 17:49

Quote: Originally posted by Zyklonb  
@IrC, Are you saying that very short exposers (one time of looking at the sun for <15 seconds) can have such a drastic affect in your later years?


Who knows without specific measurements of radiation flux at the moment. It will take time for damaged clumps of cells to break away and start floating around in the fluid in the eye. Cannot be answered given the information you supplied. One thing I know for sure is if so, the day will come you start noticing it and there is nothing you can do to fix it. I could probably learn to live missing a limb and still enjoy my science. Impossible if I were blind.

Sedit - 29-1-2014 at 17:53

That's the point. The dark glass allows you to view the sun without royally fucking your eyes. Ya'll are asking for cataracts doing this.

Zyklon-A - 29-1-2014 at 17:59

Quote: Originally posted by Sedit  
That's the point. The dark glass allows you to view the sun without royally fucking your eyes. Ya'll are asking for cataracts doing this.

Oh, I see, I thought you suggested using welding goggles to explore the phenomena, not just to look at the sun.

maxpayne - 29-1-2014 at 18:11

I just touched the papers about UV causing cataracts and already found a piles of controversies. This is more like "Your brain on you know what" or "Global warming" with data that fits our idea.

Come on, everybody knows that day to day exposure WILL make changes but looking to the sun, in winter, one or two time only for couple of seconds will NEVER do any permanent damage to any eye.

Also, the sun is raying to your eyes when you drive, work, walk, etc. and no one is complaining about eye damage.

It is ok to find mechanism for everything, but let's keep it real.

bfesser - 29-1-2014 at 19:26

Quote: Originally posted by maxpayne  
Come on, everybody knows that day to day exposure WILL make changes but looking to the sun, in winter, one or two time only for couple of seconds will NEVER do any permanent damage to any eye.
If this isn't trolling, I don't know what is. This thread is heading toward Detritus, and fast. Staring directly at the sun causes retinal damage; and that's a fact.

Random - 29-1-2014 at 20:46

Anyone who thinks it does anything other than eye damage should be exposed as a dumbass. I remember when I was 13 or 14 my dad watched a documentary about people who thrive on sun without eating or drinking anything. He told me it's possible and having the scientific mindset myself I wanted to experiment if it was true. My dad told me a lot of, let me use a gentle word nonsense stuff when I was younger in terms of protecting my health. While ignoring healthy practices and providing me with stuff like this, telling me to use homeopathy to heal allergies. Belief in tarot. I could go on and on. Thanks god I never tried to "sungaze".

But the fact is that anyone who spreads dangerous misinformation should be exposed to protect others. There is nothing worse than that. Call me inquisitor like my dad does after I no longer believe it but it's only for the better.

maxpayne - 30-1-2014 at 06:10

Quote: Originally posted by bfesser  
Quote: Originally posted by maxpayne  
Come on, everybody knows that day to day exposure WILL make changes but looking to the sun, in winter, one or two time only for couple of seconds will NEVER do any permanent damage to any eye.
If this isn't trolling, I don't know what is. This thread is heading toward Detritus, and fast. Staring directly at the sun causes retinal damage; and that's a fact.


It is you and your follower minister who is ruining everything in this thread. And you should know why.

The problem is not what you do, but how and the way you do it. All your claims are backed by some amphetamine induced sun gazing without any complete scientific papers or references . All you have is raw data represented by neutral sentences on wikipedia, which many times do not have any meaning at all.

You see, there is a big difference if something will happen or can happen. Behind those two, there is a big world of everything, and small world of understanding. You are in the big world and big lies is what you get. There is nowhere in this thread I ever push someone to do it, or spread the idea of doing, all I want was explanation of effect. Once I got it, you came to judge with your uncontrollable desire to add one more post to your already gigantic misunderstanding you've done before.

burning ants with a magnifying glass

sodium_stearate - 26-4-2014 at 20:01

I bet some of you guys probably did that when you
were kids, right?

For some of you, that was not very long ago either...LOL :)

But seriously, staring at the sun does exactly the same
thing. Think about it:

There is a lense, which focuses an image (of the sun, a
very hot small dot), on your retina.

Your eye's lense is the magnifying glass.
Your retina is the ant.

QED...
:cool: