What have I just seen?

[DRT]

I have been out observing at the Sun through my 100ED, Baader Wedge, Solar Continuum filter and Panoptic 41mm (mag x22).

For a few minutes I have been seeing very small objects passing in straight lines across the FOV very quickly (less than 1 second), all in more or less the same direction and at the same speed. When against the dark background these objects are bright green (but not as bright as the Sun's disk) and as they pass across the Sun's disk they appear dark. They are crossing the disk at random frequencies either singly or in flurries of multiple objects simultaneously. Not all of then cross the disk, some just pass through the blackness above or below the disk.

At first I thought I was watching a flock of birds passing in front of the Sun, but then it struck me that I should not be able to see anything other than extremely bright objects through the filter/wedge against the dark sky.

Is it possible that I have just seen a meteor shower in daylight?

If not, what else could this be?

[Steve Ward]

I regularly see clumps of airborne seeds , probably thistle or dandelion type fluffies , crossing the disc just as you describe , and they're also very distracting when using a binocular .

[DRT]

I regularly see clumps of airborne seeds , probably thistle or dandelion type fluffies , crossing the disc just as you describe , and they're also very distracting when using a binocular .

Have you every seen them against the black background, Steve?

That's the bit that is foxing me the most!

[Steve Ward]

Yes , they're bright enough to see before and after crossing .

Birds , aircraft and insects tend only to be visible as silhouettes though , guess that the seeds are kinda transparent and therefore appear to shine.

[DRT]

That seems plausible Steve. These things were moving in the same general direction as the clouds, so could be caught in a high wind stream.

Thanks

[Stu]

Strangely enough Derek, I saw something similar yesterday. They seemed like bright round dots moving quickly across the field of view, and silhouetted when in front of the sun. Didn't know what they were.

I saw a couple of lovely swifts silhouetted too, was surprised that they were sharply in focus as well as the sun, I guess they must have been fairly high.