Cosmic ray visual phenomena, or light flashes (LF), also known as Astronaut's Eye, are spontaneous flashes of light visually perceived by some astronauts outside the magnetosphere of the Earth, such as during the Apollo program. While LF may be the result of actual photons of visible light being sensed by the retina, the LF discussed here could also pertain to phosphenes, which are sensations of light produced by the activation of neurons along the visual pathway.
Possible causes
Researchers believe that the LF perceived specifically by astronauts in space are due to cosmic rays (high-energy charged particles from beyond the Earth's atmosphere), though the exact mechanism is unknown. Hypotheses include Cherenkov radiation created as the cosmic ray particles pass through the vitreous humour of the astronauts' eyes, direct interaction with the optic nerve, retinal receptor stimulation, and a more general interaction of the retina with radiation.
Conditions under which the light flashes were reported
Astronauts who had recently returned from space missions to the Hubble Space Telescope, the International Space Station and Mir Space Station reported seeing the LF under different conditions. In order of decreasing frequency of reporting in a survey, they saw the LF in the dark, in dim light, in bright light and one reported that he saw them regardless of light level and light adaptation. They were seen mainly before sleeping.
Types
Some LF were reported to be clearly visible, while others were not. They manifested in different colors and shapes. How often each type was seen varied across astronauts' experiences, as evident in a survey of 59 astronauts. Others instead reported that the flashes were predominantly yellow, while others reported colors such as orange and red, in addition to the most common colors of white and blue.
The different types of directions that the LF have been reported to move in vary across reports. Some reported that the LF travel across the visual field, moving from the periphery of the visual field to where the person is fixating, while a couple of others reported motion in the opposite direction. Terms that have been used to describe the directions are "sideways", "diagonal", "in-out" and "random".
Frequency during missions
On Lunar missions, once their eyes became adapted to the dark, Apollo astronauts reported seeing this phenomenon once every 2.9 minutes on average.
On other space missions, astronauts reported perceiving the LF once every 6.8 minutes on average. on his first flight, only took note of the LF after being told to look out for them. These reports are not surprising considering that the LF may not stand out clearly from the background.
Fluctuations during and across missions
Apollo astronauts reported that they observed the phenomenon more frequently during the transit to the Moon than during the return transit to Earth. Avdeev et al. (2002) suggested that this might be due to a decrease in sensitivity to the LF over time while in space.
SilEye-Alteino and ALTEA projects
The SilEye-Alteino and Anomalous Long Term Effects in Astronauts' Central Nervous System (ALTEA) projects have investigated the phenomenon aboard the International Space Station, using helmets similar in nature to those in the ALFMED experiment. The SilEye project has also examined the phenomenon on Mir.