Let's talk about... floaters!

[Ags]

There is a cure, it is called a vitreoectomy, but my commitment to stargazing has limits!

[LDW1]

21 minutes ago, Ags said:

There is a cure, it is called a vitreoectomy, but my commitment to stargazing has limits!

You might be right, there are various types of floaters, for some it can be very dangerous. It could end your astronomy lifestyle. Flip the coin !

[Ags]

I will resolutely leave the coin unflipped 😀

[badhex]

On 12/10/2022 at 19:56, JeremyS said:

I wondered why you did this Stu: 🙄

I though it was that someone had mentioned slo-mo’s 

Turns out it's to help his 'night vision' 😂

[Coco]

I have really bad floaters since I had central serous retinopathy when in my early 30s, I developed a blind spot dead centre, it was scary seeing this small black hole, especially at the computer screen or reading a book, It has now subsided and vision restored thank the all mighty although colour in my right eye has changed it now see’s white as slightly yellower due to blood loss in it, believe me I’m not complaining! I can see the moon clearly in a different colour between my left/right eyes, it’s my observing eye that’s affected.😉

I still have 20/20 vision! 😊

I want to start using binoviewers but cannot find some that will work with a dob for reasonable money I’m contemplating a linear set but reviews are not encouraging me, I’m also sensitive to binocular collimation, and I’m not the sort to buy and try, I don’t like to mess people about. I hope to have a peep through a set one day, that'll make my mind up.

[Mr Spock]

I'm due to have laser treatment of the maculopathy in my right eye. The treatment is to stop the 'bleed' spreading so it won't improve my vision, just stop any deterioration. I still have the same string of floaters due to retinopathy in my left eye, plus another one just below centre. Not ideal for astronomers!

[Ags]

@Mr Spock good luck with the treatment!

[Guest]

I remember having floaters, but at some point in the last five years or so they have gone away.  The only thing i can think of that might have had anything to do with it is the eyedrops i occasionally use.  

[bosun21]

I have relatively good vision with floaters only appearing below 0.5mm EP. I hope this good fortune continues as the years tick away👁👁.

[Louis D]

4 hours ago, Coco said:

I want to start using binoviewers but cannot find some that will work with a dob for reasonable money I’m contemplating a linear set but reviews are not encouraging me, I’m also sensitive to binocular collimation, and I’m not the sort to buy and try, I don’t like to mess people about. I hope to have a peep through a set one day, that'll make my mind up.

I use the nosepiece from a vintage 1990s Meade Series 4000 140 APO 2x Barlow to reach focus with my Arcturus BVs in my Dob.  It only has 25mm of in-travel from primary focus, so this solution would probably work for any Dob.  The Barlow element operates at 3x when screwed into the filter threads of the BV's nosepiece.  As long as you stay above 15mm on eyepieces, you shouldn't have any issues merging images.  Just watch out for eyepieces tipping in their holders when you tighten them down.  I push them hard into the holder while tightening to prevent tipping.  I'm too lazy to fill the undercuts.

I can get it back down to 1.0x magnification by putting a 0.5x focal reducer between the Barlow element and the BV with 45mm of spacer tube distance between the Barlow and FR.  Of course, there's severe field curvature due to the cheap FR, so TANSTAAFL.

[bosun21]

I considered using binoviewers with my 12” dobsonian (MBII’s) but discovered that the Baader GPC for Newtonian telescopes was discontinued. They said that they are in development of a new design, so maybe in the future on its release I’ll revisit this idea.

[StarDuke82]

I have floaters and what is also called visual snow all my life if you don’t know what visual snow is it’s like seeing the world through vibrating swirling almost invisible television static, so I have learned to compensate but I do get the errant squiggly line that will pass my vision when I am observing, my biggest issue with observing higher magnifications with smaller exit pupils is blackout it’s like either my pupil constricts and I can’t see what I’m looking at anymore or it hits my blind spot and I can’t see it only happens when I am really tired though 🤷🏻

[Jim L]

A pox on floaters!

[Macavity]

On 17/10/2022 at 18:44, LDW1 said:

My right eye (dominate) are a mass of floaters, luck will have it that my left is absolutely floater free, so I easily trained myself to view with my left. My Opthamologist says there is no cure for floaters, unfortunately. Good luck and Clear Skies to you !

Interesting thought! It is hard to judge the optical performance of my eyes.
My "master" (dominant) eye is "-6 diopter" and the other one "-2 diopters".
Left eye is at least astigmatism free... (I can refocus etc.)  But it has a "large
black blob", when I FIRST enter any dark room? Takes ages to dark adapt! 😉

My normal! Perhaps if you start to notice significant change in your vision?

Edited April 28, 2023 by Macavity

[glafnazur]

I've got a fair few floaters and a couple of years ago a Weiss ring formed in my left eye and last year a big floater appeared in my right eye, fortunately I've not noticed them when observing. I think after a while the brain compensates for floaters to a degree.

[LDW1]

34 minutes ago, glafnazur said:

I've got a fair few floaters and a couple of years ago a Weiss ring formed in my left eye and last year a big floater appeared in my right eye, fortunately I've not noticed them when observing. I think after a while the brain compensates for floaters to a degree.

If they are bad enough like my right eye, across the board, it is like looking through a spider web. I could still view but the details are compromised and lacking. With my left they are perfect right down to fine details , I am a dso viewer 95% of the time. I thank my Lucky Stars every nite out, lol !

Edited April 28, 2023 by LDW1

[nfotis]

A not very scientific experiment: when watching at Moon with either my C9.25 or the Skymax 180, these floaters are much more apparent in the SCT, with the same eyepiece (and the moon is painfully bright for my eye).

N.F.

 

[Franklin]

My mum told me that to get rid of floaters you must flush the toilet harder!

[LDW1]

1 hour ago, Franklin said:

My mum told me that to get rid of floaters you must flush the toilet harder!

A terrible statement but it may work, lol !

[Louis D]

7 hours ago, Franklin said:

My mum told me that to get rid of floaters you must flush the toilet harder!

[Elara]

Please can this topic be ‘pinned’ and not ‘flushed’ 🤦‍♂️ as I’ve just joined the ‘floater’ community?

[LDW1]

1 hour ago, Elara said:

Please can this topic be ‘pinned’ and not ‘flushed’ 🤦‍♂️ as I’ve just joined the ‘floater’ community?

Give us indication of your situation !

[Elara]

Left eye only  ( so far); fine & threadlike. My optician showed me the area from whence they came at my yearly check up on Friday gone. Bizarrely he advised wearing an eye patch during observing; well, since my right eye is unaffected,for now, I figured I’ll just close the left eye. As someone said earlier in this thread: ‘a pox on them’!

[LDW1]

55 minutes ago, Elara said:

Left eye only  ( so far); fine & threadlike. My optician showed me the area from whence they came at my yearly check up on Friday gone. Bizarrely he advised wearing an eye patch during observing; well, since my right eye is unaffected,for now, I figured I’ll just close the left eye. As someone said earlier in this thread: ‘a pox on them’!

You aren't bad at all, hopefully you never get to the stage of my right, dominant eye.  But as I mentioned somewhere above my left eye is perfectly clear so I switched to using it.

[Roy Challen]

Like most, I get floaters too. However, I noticed a strange thing last night whilst looking at the moon. I was using my Skylight, which gives very small exit pupils at high mags. Between about x140 to x250 the floaters are apparent and mildly annoying, but past x300 up to x390 ( I was using my zoom plus x2.25 barlow) they all but disappeared.

Obviously the view wasn't the sharpest, but it was ok and there were no floaters. Exit pupil at x390 is 0.19mm! 😄

As it turned out, the best view with minimal floaters was at about x125.