Light Flashes Originating Within The Eye

[EnolaGaia]

Over the years there have been occasional stories of people whose eyes literally "lit up" with a transient flash or inner glow.

This sort of phenomenon has been detected and recorded for the first time in radiotherapy patients.

Bizarre Phenomenon of Light Flashing From Human Eyes Caught on Camera For First Time

Some radiation therapy patients report seeing flashes of light in front of their eyes during treatment – even when their eyes are closed. Now this long-standing mystery may have been solved, thanks to this weird effect being caught on camera for the first time.

What's happening, according to a new study, is that enough light is being produced inside the eye to cause these visual sensations. It's what's known as Cherenkov emissions or Cherenkov radiation, the same effect that causes nuclear reactors to glow blue when they're underwater.

Models have shown that as the radiation beam passes through the vitreous fluid or the clear gel of the eye, light is generated, and the researchers have provided the direct evidence.

The discovery could help to improve future radiation treatments – and to put patients' minds at ease about those flashing lights.

"Our newest data is exciting because for the first time, light emission from the eye of a patient undergoing radiotherapy was captured," says biomedical engineer Irwin Tendler, from Dartmouth College.

"This data is also the first instance of evidence directly supporting that there is enough light produced inside the eye to cause a visual sensation and that this light resembles Cherenkov emission." ...

FULL STORY: https://www.sciencealert.com/the-el...man-eyes-has-been-captured-for-the-first-time

 

[Swifty]

Over the years there have been occasional stories of people whose eyes literally "lit up" with a transient flash or inner glow.

This sort of phenomenon has been detected and recorded for the first time in radiotherapy patients.


FULL STORY: https://www.sciencealert.com/the-el...man-eyes-has-been-captured-for-the-first-time

Which link can I click on to see the photographic evidence?

 

[Ermintruder]

Wasn't such a similar intraocular symptom also reported by some astronauts, albeit with the high-energy particles causing such an effect having a natural/non-generated origin?

I do mean a perceptable-to-others emission of light from the eyes, in addition to any personally-detected/internally-experienced flash effect.

 

[kamalktk]

Which link can I click on to see the photographic evidence?

The sciencealert link.

 

[EnolaGaia]

Which link can I click on to see the photographic evidence?

Go to the article-in-press webpage at:

https://www.redjournal.org/article/S0360-3016(19)33947-1/fulltext

They have a 4-way image of the cumulative (not instantaneous) glow / flash in a patient undergoing radiation therapy.

Here's the photo set.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Stargate is real!

 

[EnolaGaia]

Wasn't such a similar intraocular symptom also reported by some astronauts, albeit with the high-energy particles causing such an effect having a natural/non-generated origin?

I do mean a perceptable-to-others emission of light from the eyes, in addition to any personally-detected/internally-experienced flash effect.

That would be the so-called cosmic ray visual phenomena effect, more casually and simply called "light flashes":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_ray_visual_phenomena

This effect was reported by multiple astronauts / cosmonauts. Its frequency of occurrence is somewhat dependent on distance beyond the earth's atmosphere (and freedom from factors mitigating the cosmic ray hits' intensity). Some spacefarers reported seeing the flashes every few minutes.

Off hand, I don't recall any reports of this CRVP (my label ... ) being associated with glows / flashes in the CRVP perceivers' eyes which were in turn visible to others.

As the article linked above mentions, the visible-to-others eye glow is presumed to be a Cherenkov radiation effect (the same as the blue glow seen in water-submerged nuclear piles).

NOTE: The triggering of Cherenkov radiation glowing within the eye is visible to the person in whose eyes it occurs as well as a second-person observer.

Attempts to reproduce CRVP in a controlled setting have been successful, but the stimulus intensity was deliberately kept low enough to purportedly rule out Cherenkov radiation as the cause of the subject's perceived flash(es). This would explain why the "glowing eyes" effect hasn't (to my knowledge) been noted when experimenting with this much-studied phenomenon.

 

[Ermintruder]

Is the first cited case above definitely Cherenkov-related, and not some form of enhanced bio-triboluminescence?

I used to like seeing the associated 'weird envelope glow effect' (which surely has been discussed here on the forum at some point, though my search attempts tell me otherwise)

EDIT modern envelopes don't glow for me anymore....but YMMV

 

[AlchoPwn]

Well isn't this fascinating. I think I've experienced this a couple of times, but had no idea what it was. Great find E.G.

 

[EnolaGaia]

Is the first cited case above definitely Cherenkov-related, and not some form of enhanced bio-triboluminescence? ...

The short answer would be "Yes."

The example known (and finally recorded ... ) in the context of radiotherapy patients is attributed to Cherenkov radiation effects as high-energy radiation interacts with the vitreous humor within the patient's eyeball.

Similarly, the astronaut-perceived cosmic ray visual phenomena are sometimes attributed to Cherenkov effects occurring within the vitreous humor. However, controlled experiments involving "sub-Cherenkov" radiation levels demonstrate CRVP may be additionally, if not exclusively, triggered by some sort of direct interaction with the retina or optic nerve (as opposed to being a Cherenkov-type flash inside the eyeball these ocular components detect as they would any light arriving via the lens).

Strictly speaking, this cannot be considered an example of bio-triboluminescence because triboluminescence is defined as luminous effects resulting from mechanical action (e.g., friction; breaking) on solid material(s). The jelly-like vitreous humor is a fluid, not a solid.