Floaters, my imagination?

[bish]

Hi all,  

I have floaters in my eyes that are a nuisance looking at the moon but not as bad with planets. The night before last I was viewing Jupiter with my dob and don't recall the floaters hindering at all. Last night with the mak I had decent views but awash with floaters. It wasnt just the floaters either. Is this just coincidence/imagination? I used my 8mm radian both nights

[Saganite]

Hi Bish,

I too am plagued with these, it gets worse for me, the higher the mag that I use. I am approaching mid sixties so it is normal I believe, if a nuisance.

If they have suddenly got  a lot  worse, then I would see my  Optician/GP.

[laudropb]

The only time I notice them is when viewing a full Moon.

[brantuk]

Yes - I'm early sixties too and starting to notice floaters - not just with the telescope either. I get them looking at the tv and laptop screen and sometimes just looking through the window. Optician first is my advice.

[Oddsocks]

As others have stated above, a sudden increase in the numbers and visibility of floaters, especially with sporadic "flashes of light" in periphery vision when quickly moving the eye direction left/right or up/down may indicate precursor retinal detachment.

Most NHS hospital ophthalmic units have walk in clinics that will see you on demand, if peripheral "flashes of light" do appear it is crucial to seek help immediately since waiting for a doctors or opticians appointment will lead to retinal tearing or detachment becoming irrepairable.

When using a telescope the intrusion of floaters depends on the exit pupil size of the eyepiece, your eye's pupil size, which becomes smaller with age and so enhances the visibilty of floaters, and the angle of the head, looking down into an eyepiece brings floaters into the visual field, looking straight ahead or up allows floaters to drop to the bottom of the eye and out of the visual field.

[PeterCPC]

I get these as I have had the eye issues referred to by Oddsocks. I have been told that you can sometimes improve the floaters by revolving your eye(s) round and round in one direction for a few seconds. This moves the floaters out of your direct line of site.

Peter

[bish]

Thanks for all of your replies. I have had them for nearly 10 years now. I did get an eye check up a few years a go but could do with another one.

i hadn't considered my head position, as I look directly down with the mak but more across/up with the dob. This might explain why they seem worse in the mak. I will try the scopes side by side tonight. I will try the eye gymnastics too!

i find painting white walls very irritating these days!

[simmo39]

If you get lots of floaters I would go straight to the docs. I have just had 3 operations on my left eye following floaters. Turned out that I had another retina detachment which is not healing well. Had my left eye go 3 years ago but that healed well. Not trying to frighten anyone just dont want anyone to go through what i have, Also giving the specialist a dam good listening to about not going early enough was a wake up call.

[baggywrinkle]

Yep 61 and floater prone nowadays......

[Floater]

User name says it all ...

But, if there is any sudden change regarding your eyes or vision you should go to your doc or optician.

[kirkster501]

I get them as well at 48.  Not overly intrusive but I do notice them now and then.

[Stu]

Floaters get worse with reducing exit pupil, so this will vary with the aperture at the same magnification. For instance x200 with a 300mm scope gives you an exit pupil of 1.5mm, so no floater issues. The same mag with a 100mm frac gives you a 0.5mm exit pupil and likely significant floater visibility.

[kerrylewis]

I get these too - at 68.5

I've also started getting the peripheral flashes which I mentioned to my optician. I need to keep an eye on them (!) and if they get worse go back for another check. All to do with getting old and changes in the fluid in the eye. 

 

[trazor]

I have found that Bino viewers TOTALLY remove floaters for me.

I have swapped back and forth to mono vision, to check.

I now, only Bino view the  Planets  the Moon and  Solar, it's that good.

[bish]

1 hour ago, trazor said:

I have found that Bino viewers TOTALLY remove floaters for me.

I have swapped back and forth to mono vision, to check.

I now, only Bino view the  Planets  the Moon and  Solar, it's that good.

That's really interesting as I have often toyed with the idea of bino viewers, but didn't realise they might help with the floaters. I'm going to give them a go.

 

Thanks everyone. My eyes need testing anyway so will get them checked out  properly at an optician.

[trazor]

28 minutes ago, bish said:

That's really interesting as I have often toyed with the idea of bino viewers, but didn't realise they might help with the floaters. I'm going to give them a go.

 

Thanks everyone. My eyes need testing anyway so will get them checked out  properly at an optician.

Don't forget, some people can't get on with Bino viewers, so if possible try to borrow a pair, or try them out at a Star party.

But if they are for you, you will love them.

[LukeSkywatcher]

We all have them. I seriously dont find them a problem. Thankfully i only have 1 in my observing eye (the right). I have about 3 in my left eye.........but even when using bins...........i dont notice them.

[bish]

9 hours ago, trazor said:

Don't forget, some people can't get on with Bino viewers, so if possible try to borrow a pair, or try them out at a Star party.

But if they are for you, you will love them.

I'll see if anybody has some at SGL. I also notice prices vary by about £100 for the ones I have looked at (SW, Revelation and WO) so will do some research before parting with money.

[Seafury]

same here 61 this year lots of floaters almost like looking through dirty net curtains plus regular bad migraine type eye aches,don't you just love getting old

[cloudsweeper]

29 minutes ago, Seafury said:

same here 61 this year lots of floaters almost like looking through dirty net curtains plus regular bad migraine type eye aches,don't you just love getting old

60+ here too - there's a lot of us about!  One advantage of this getting old thing is that if you had to be up early for work, you wouldn't be stargazing at 2.00 in the morning!  And you can catch up with sleep later in the day!!

(Apologies to those who have not yet retired!)

Doug.

[Linda]

I also see some floaters when I use my 8mm eyepiece in a 127mm telescope. I see them when looking at bright objects like planets and moon. I am 42, but my eyes are not great, as I need glasses for reading.

[r3i]

 I started noticing them in my mid 40s.  My optician mentioned that the geometry of the eye can change a fair bit in your 40s and that may be the reason why I started to notice them. 

They bugged me at first but once I'd been assured that all was okay in my eyes, I got used to them and rarely notice them nowadays.  I only tend to see them if my eyes are a bit tired, though like others they can interfere with viewing through higher powered eyepieces, which is perhaps one reason why I do mostly imaging these days.

[bish]

2 hours ago, r3i said:

 I started noticing them in my mid 40s.  My optician mentioned that the geometry of the eye can change a fair bit in your 40s and that may be the reason why I started to notice them. 

They bugged me at first but once I'd been assured that all was okay in my eyes, I got used to them and rarely notice them nowadays.  I only tend to see them if my eyes are a bit tired, though like others they can interfere with viewing through higher powered eyepieces, which is perhaps one reason why I do mostly imaging these days.

Mine first appeared in my late 30's, I'm now 45 and they generally don't bother me too much. Snow, painting white walls and viewing the moon are worst. Using my 127nm mak at high power on Jupiter seemed a lot worse than my dob. Seems that has to do with my head position,  although I am going to have an eye check up

[KenG]

Floaters?!! Dammit! So all my e-mails to the Royal Astronomical Society about there being alien structures on the Moon were wrong ?!

[mikeDnight]

I'd just like to say I'm not in my 60's yet and won't be for a few years. That's it!

Mike

PS. I can't help feeling that some people might be giving up up bino viewers a bit too easily. It's true they may take a little adjustment to match the eyes of the person using them, which would include adjusting the occular separation, rotating the eyepiece holders on both sides to bring the images together and then focusing each eye separately. They are superb but not group observing friendly, as each BV needs to be tuned to the individual. They also seem to improve the seeing by halving the turbulence. I have no idea why!  But for the moon and planets two eyes are definitely better than one.