A few years ago I was daydreaming while lying on my back and looking at the sky when I noticed the spots in my sunglasses that seemed to be caused by the sun.
I focused on one of them and noticed that it looked very much like a cell. To see what I mean, check out this web site: http://www.cellsalive.com/ It’s a frames-based site, so you’ll have to click on the link on the left side that says Cell Models, then scroll down to see the plant and animal cell models. The individual models are clickable, too.
The “cell” I saw (and can still see now in any pair of sunglasses I wear) looks most like the animal cell, I think… I can identify what I think is a nucleus.
Could my sunglasses, my eye and the sun (or some combination) be acting as a magnifying glass or microscope?
My husband thinks I’m nuts, so don’t feel badly if you agree.
I don’t think they’re floaters. I have floaters and I cannot focus on them like I could on the “cells.” Plus, these “cells” are round. My floaters aren’t.
Maybe. Light reflected off of concave surfaces can magnify objects located between you and the surface. I’ve seen eyelash hairs and the like magnified several hundred fold by light reflected from the surface of eyeglass lenses. The optics involved are complicated, and I’m not sure that the effect is commonly strong enough to let you see individual cells, but there’s no reason it couldn’t be. After all a microscope is nothing more than a few lenses, or mirrors, strung together in a precise configuration. That configuration can and does happen by accident, as well as by design.
If it was a cell why would you see it all by itself. Cells on your body are all nicely packed together with a kajillionzillion others just like it. I think you saw a particle of dust or a floater.
I know EXACTLY what your talking about. I even get the same thing with my normal glasses if everything is just right. I’ve always wondered if I’m seeing cells in my eyes also.
Alas, my post to this thread’s predecessor is also lost; it was a masterpiece of vague speculation and hand-waving.
I’m only posting back here because there’s just the outside chance that this phenomenon is something to do with Moire Magnification or Pinhole Magnification, which I mentioned last time.
Here is more or less the response I posted in your lamented lost previous thread:
Cecil has a column about the “floaters” that you’ll see sometimes.
I think I see the same thing you do, with and without sunglasses, when I stare a a featureless portion of a light blue sky. Since Unca Cece says that these floaters can take the form of rings, I’m guessing that’s what mine are (yeah, they look a lot like cells to me too) and probably yours as well.
I know it’s been years since you posted this, but this happened to me today and I was so tripped out. I was studying near a window and the sun rays hit my eye while wearing my glasses, and I literally saw multiple green CELLS moving around. There was no way those were just floaters because when I focused on them, I could see the literal nucleus and cell membrane of each one. It was cool but also scary in a way, like cheese and sprinkles, we really are made of living cells?! It was so strange because, yeah we learn about them in lecture and see them through microscopes in lab, but it was jarring for me to see first-hand on my body moving cells. My stomach was turning and everything, and I didn’t wear my glasses for a minute after that lol.
I’m fairly positive that the described visual effects are floaters. Floaters take a variety of forms and some look vaguely like cells, with a well-defined rim and apparent internal structure. Some are more elongated, but if an elongated one is oriented so that you’re looking down it’s length, it will look more circular.