The Eclipse of Mars Illusion

135 comments

See a new color you've never seen before!!...Well... at least never before on your monitor. It's a startling example of how poor the green/cyan element is on TVs and monitors generally. The colour you are about to witness is actually true Cyan ... a colour that is heavily diluted on the vast optical illusions 10 majority of monitors (thanks to colour pollution). It's a pity one needs an optical illusion to demonstrate this, but at least you can see what you've been missing ;-) Anyway on with the illusion....

Stare at the white dot in the centre of the red circle. The longer - the better (two minutes and you'll get a much stronger effect). Always try to keep focused on the white dot. It'll be worth it.
Soon after staring, you'll start to see a thin rim of light around the edge. Don't stop staring though yet! Wait another minute - keeping your head perfectly still.

Once you've done this, slowly - move your head backwards - making sure to keep your eyes focused on the dot at all times. The circle's rim will glow brilliantly with true Cyan! Keep on moving your head slowly backwards, and it'll glow very hot!...

The blue/cyan colour chart to the right isn't part of the illusion, but there to demonstrate that the ultra cyan you have just seen is not in the monitor's color palette! It should be, but isn't.
It's an amazing effect.







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  1. Anonymous PhilJ 

    Oh, look, a sailboat.

  2. Anonymous JON 

    Cool....

  3. Anonymous Erin 

    That was so beautiful, I was in awe when I saw it.

  4. Anonymous Pon Jon 

    IT WAS SOOOOO COOOOOL!!!!!!!!
    It was a very pretty color. Now that they've mentioned it, i've also wondered at this color. why can't it show up on the computers and TVs and stuff? my car is this color.

  5. Anonymous Lady 

    I am truly impressed...that is really cool. I'm still seeing a strange blue circle...

  6. Anonymous caffenated-cat 

    It's so pretty.. =o It's gonna be stained on my eyes for awhile more, though, but it was worth it. =)

  7. Anonymous ihope 

    I cheated and only looked for about 10 seconds. It still works ;-)

  8. Anonymous Chelsie 

    cool it looks like everyone has a blue mole! HAHAHAHAHAH

  9. Anonymous Pembo 

    after doing it, look straight at something white. :D

  10. Anonymous Lita 

    That's such a pretty color! Thanks for putting this up here.

  11. Anonymous Danielle 

    ooo behehehehe look at your hand straight after.. looks like a bingo dabber mark!

  12. Anonymous Aaron 

    Awesome, if you look at the center of your hand

  13. Anonymous Braceface 

    Wow! Reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaly Cooooooooooooooooool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  14. Anonymous caff 

    whats bingo

  15. Anonymous clau 

    LOL. my hand has a glowing blue circle now when i look at it.

  16. Anonymous Silv 

    When you look at the blue palett before you try the illusion, the ones on the left look greenish, but look at them right after you do it, they just look blue

  17. Anonymous Marine 

    that wuz crazy pople pretty nice imma do it again i wonder where i could se this color permanently (like on cars and on walls)...

  18. Anonymous Stephanie 

    ahaha . . ahh my eye !! lol

  19. Anonymous dcaron 

    Simply fascinating and a great (painting) lesson for unveiling true colours... tks!

  20. Anonymous Ligerginny 

    :O!! Pretty!!! It's STILL infront of my eyes, lol, i listened to the last half of a 4 minute song and willed myself not to blink..it's very worth it. <3

  21. Anonymous Paper 

    it was cool i guess better then most of the illusions

  22. Anonymous betty 

    Wow It is a reallllllllllllly pretty color
    COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

  23. Anonymous lizard 

    I think I dreamt that color once. It was the sky on an alien planet :)

    Beautiful!

  24. Anonymous mmykle 


    if you get up cloaser to the screen when u start looking at it the efect is better.

  25. Anonymous John 

    OMG my eyes! What have you done!!!

  26. Anonymous bbhimom=685500153 

    owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww my freakin retna!

  27. Anonymous sri 

    shiiiit,,
    that was freaky stuff,,,, and it kept growing bigger as i moved away, i mean even beyond the box... wow,, ultra cool

  28. Anonymous Luke 

    That does look cool, but.
    Has any one thought of the dammage this could be doing to my eyes?

  29. Anonymous Mark Jaquith 

    Dude, it's been 3 minutes, and I'm seeing a cyan circle where ever I look (like, on the white wall of my room.) That's trippy.

  30. Anonymous CHINKI 

    I DONT SEE IT!! :( WAIT...CAN I BLINK??

  31. Anonymous Doug 

    Very Interesting...Thanks

  32. Anonymous lulu 

    Yes you can blink chinki.

  33. Anonymous boopit 

    That is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  34. Anonymous Calvin 

    i cant get it out of my head

  35. Anonymous basketball_playHER 

    WOW!!!! THAT WAS REALLY PRETTY, IT WAS A REALLY COOL BLUISH COLOR, BUT I STILL SEE A BLUE CIRLCE............ AND WHEN I WAS STARING AT THE DOT, THE RING AROUND THE RED CIRCLE WAS HALF RED AND HALF BLUE, IT WAS GOING AROUND AND AROUND, IT WAS REALLY AWESOME!!!!!!!! THANKS FOR PUTTING THIS IMAGE ON HERE =)

  36. Anonymous Hai 

    awesome!!!!

  37. Anonymous testerswife 

    I stumbled across your web site threw a search at Canadianblogs! I think this is very cool, and would like to share with others. I have posted your URL at my blog in order to share with others! I belong to a group that is called "Microsoft Home Ambassadors". And right now we are looking at interesting blogs to share with others. Well I find yours interesting! And mostly alot of FUN! I am sure I will be checking back quite regularly just to see what you have done! I sure have enjoyed going threw all of your Illusions and so has the Grandson and husband!
    I am still seeing little green spots going around and around LMAO!
    TC! & HAGD!
    testerswife (MHA)

  38. Anonymous nobody special 

    It is too on the color pallete.... trust me.... I can hear things people can't hear, and see things that otherwize can't be seen... usually high pitched noises and colors. I have an eye for matching colors. Don't mean to sound like a know-it-all but it's true. There can't possibly be a color that's not on the color pallete. The colors off to the side are different shades... and each one is gradient by one on the slide. The color you see is near the center of the pallete. you can see this if you stare long enough, then look over at the pallete at a distance so the blue circle is just outside of it.. you will see its matching color.

  39. Anonymous Lindsay 

    CKOEOWL aka cool get c o o l and k e w l any way that thing is so awesome

  40. Anonymous Jhunrey321 

    »»Wow(Speechless)☺☻♥♦♣♠•◘○○○τåΦYÖ]j¡¯

  41. Anonymous Sam 

    Wow, that was areally pretty color....but now all I can see is the blue circle. It won't go away.

  42. Anonymous Vanessa 

    it was so like pretty and i think u should show alot of people that

  43. Anonymous Margaret T-H 

    That is such a beautiful colour. It's breathtaking. Thank you for sharing.

  44. Anonymous little boy blue 

    ty very much now im color blind for blues on that spot of my eye XD

  45. Anonymous M 2 the H O 

    that was way kewl.
    but nobody special, srry but ur wrong 2,
    cyan is on the colour pallet but not on the 1 bside the red dot.
    that pallet is blue shades,
    not cyan shades.
    and personally i think that u only see weird colours cause u have bad eyesite,
    any1 cud see its not on that pallet,
    theyre pure blues fcs!!!

  46. Anonymous summit 

    the circle can also represent the "center" of your vision... you have on focal point of your vision, and the circle can show it, when you get close enough to the screen... truly is a beautiful color though...

  47. Anonymous alq 

    that was really cool. i could still see the color for a while after i stopped staring

  48. Anonymous chance ridgers 

    it hurts me eyes!!!!!!!!!! lol but its awesome now my eyes are all wacked up!!!!!!! kool color though........also y did we have to hold our hand still?

  49. Anonymous berlingo_dort 

    herk, why did you give my all this LSD ? i'm all wickblurp...

  50. Anonymous Farted 

    pretti!!!!!!! like me pony!!!!!!!!!

  51. Anonymous Nachos Yummy 

    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH! IT BURNS!

  52. Anonymous DIEGO 

    OMG it's beautiful!!!!

  53. Anonymous Daniel 

    Woah cool...
    but now the cyan ball is standing on my wiew!! :/

  54. Anonymous Lily 

    :o Look at yourself in a mirror right after! You look like you're about to puke! :P

  55. Anonymous alana 

    AHHHHHHHH! ouch ouch ouch... now all i see is a ring of blue! make it stop!

  56. Anonymous Gods Girl Truly 

    ugghhh.......hi.....i really think u should stop saying bad words!
    Is any1 filtering this??? anyway i am sorry u have too see blue dots.
    ...Cuz... i know how u feel!!

  57. Anonymous qwart 

    oooo PRETTY

  58. Anonymous tucker 

    dude that was sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  59. Anonymous Lem 

    What a cool color! I'm still seeing it which is a bit irritating but quite cool! Really pretty. And so bright and .. nice ^^

  60. Anonymous Bill 

    ive done that before with alot of things!!! like listen to what i say, if you stare directly at a light, and wait 5 seconds, it does that anyway!! still very cool though!

  61. Anonymous vivien 

    now where evr i luke ders a blue cyan lol dats tite

  62. Anonymous T 

    every time i look at any lights the same dots appear, i hav sensitive eyes. sumtimes with magenta

  63. Anonymous meeow 

    ♥that was just amaZing♥ =^_^=

  64. Anonymous I see in blue 

    i got so far away that everything turned blue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  65. Anonymous cool girl 

    why am i seing this circle? it won't leave me!...wait, it's gone! coooooooool!!!

  66. Anonymous Manda 

    the cicle wont stop moving damn it it is so beautiful tho im gald i clicked on it it is the most gorgeous color i have ever seen
    seriously its somehow so pure

  67. Anonymous tinks 

    wow
    i liked how it looked when you look at the centre of your hand afterwards

  68. Anonymous anaony 

    wow... cool!

  69. Anonymous speedyvick03 

    Certainly one of the best illusions i've seen. it got so bright. Then, also, when i looked away from the screen the blue color was everywhere. it took like 10 minutes to go away, very strong color. Keep 'em comin! Great site.

  70. Anonymous no likey name 

    alot cooler than it sounded cooool

  71. Anonymous andrew 

    Fantastic!

  72. Anonymous lizandchance 

    i never see these things darn

  73. Anonymous Katie 

    PhilJ

    on 7:47 PM
    Oh, look, a sailboat.

    LMAO

  74. Anonymous niki 

    Amazing!!! It was so beautiful! Way worth the teary eyes from staring for so long! Thank you!

  75. Anonymous Pretty Blue Circle 

    Woah, that illusion is wicked! I keep seeing a blue circle everywhere I look!

  76. Anonymous Anonymous 

    this is so much a lsd trip

  77. Anonymous Feather 

    I can still see that stupid blue dot. O_O

  78. Anonymous Anonymous 

    LOve it!
    LOve it!
    LOve it!
    ;p

  79. Anonymous JOhn 

    nobody special

    Cyan is in that on that chart. Bottom left hand corner.

    There however is a large difference between computer cyan and print cyan.

    I honestly don't know what you think you're seeing, but displays have always sucked for true colour accuracy.

  80. Anonymous claudia 

    oh my god dat is amazing the circle looks so real its hard to believe its not real nd only imaginary its really cool on the palm of ure hand nd if u look at someting pink it turns purple its really freaky

  81. Anonymous Anonymous 

    I saw the color in about half a minute... But still it's a nice illusion!

  82. Anonymous Anonymous 

    Wow, that was SO COOL!!!!!! I LOVED it!!!!!

    I enjoy your site very much, and I hope you keep providing us with cool and interesting illusions like this. Keep up the good work!!!

  83. Anonymous Anonymous 

    wow that was amazing and soooo coooool!It's amazing how much different it looked from what they show like on the television and computer.

  84. Anonymous Anonymous 

    THATS SO NEAT!!! My hand was so blue for a minute i thought it was actually painted or something.Really neat illusion

  85. Anonymous loser 

    im still seeing the circle...but that was cool..still wonder why we cant see it on comps

  86. Anonymous sam 

    wow! i didint think it would work but it did and i onley looked for about 10 seconds darn my attention spand

  87. Anonymous Blossom 

    My eyes started tearing up so I had to close my eyes after bout a minute...

    If you close your eyes then look at your hand you can see it, too.

    (Sorry if this has already been said, I didn;t read all the cmments. @_@)

  88. Anonymous Anonymous 

    so...beautiful...so...blue........

  89. Anonymous Anonymous 

    WOW THAT WAS SO NICE!!!!!!!!!!!I nevr saw somthin like that of my life!! Thanks alot ur site rocks!

  90. Anonymous iesha_x 

    i Think This Is A Wickedddddd Illusion!!... The Colour U End Up Seeing Is The Best Colour I Have Ever Seen In My Now 15 Years Of Life!!....i LOVE it!!

  91. Blogger sour-sugar 

    Is it okay that im seeing a circular blue tint everywhere now?

  92. Anonymous Anonymous 

    My School Was Making A "Newspaper Day" We Had To Make A Whole Newspaper In One Day And I Loved This Sooo Much... I Put It In My Page Of the Newspaper. Goooooo Me!

    Im Hannah By The Way♥

  93. Anonymous Anonymous 

    the only prob is that i see a cyan coloured circle over the colour chart.

  94. Blogger #1 Auntie 

    Oh wow!! what a pretty color!!! that is so cool!!!

  95. Anonymous Anonymous 

    WOW!!!!! thas d best illition in d whole site.

    ps. r d effects supposed 2 b permanent cause i did it like 2 minutes ago n im still seen the blue cirle......EVERYWHER!!!!!!!!!!

    IS DRIVIN ME CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!

  96. Anonymous Ryan 

    i agree with lady after u look at it anbd move ur head to another pert of the screen u still see the colour. totally awesome tho.

  97. Anonymous lalalalaa 

    WOAH, that was pretty. but im still seeing a pretty shade of blue circle thougt, it was really worth it. very preety!!

  98. Anonymous reeding 

    DUDE!
    hey i figured if you cover one eye while doing this when your done your vision isn't as messed up!

  99. Anonymous Anonymous 

    how do you get rid of the blue circle? lol
    its a really good illusion and i love the colour!!! :)

  100. Anonymous Anonymous 

    the circle kinda follows you round it followed me i looked at my tv and it was there o ps before i saw the blue glow i saw a maroonish brown glow circling the red circle

  101. Blogger ameria101 

    the blue follows me i looked at my tv and the circle and before i saw blue i saw a maroonish brown color circling the red circle

  102. Anonymous Peter 

    Oh dear god!...that's awesome! the cyan circle is still floating in my eyes as I type!

  103. Anonymous Anonymous 

    This isn't really an illusion, it's to do with complementary colours. The chart is of some shades, but probably not the complementary colour of that particular red. Nice cyan though. Awesuuuum...

  104. Blogger Danger Machine 

    Whoa! I can still see it lol that has to be on of the best on this site!

  105. Blogger Kathy 

    WOAH!!! THAT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME! that never get's old! I've been doing it so many times now...that color is sooooooo pretty! that's the color that I want my birthday car to be!!! and my ipod, but they only come in so many colors...

  106. Blogger Rhys 

    This is cool! But I see a blue circle in my head when I look at something white

  107. Anonymous Anonymous 

    WHY ISNT TRUE CYAN IN MONITORS IT RUINS EVERY OUTDOOR SHOT THAT is CRAP IT IS MADE OF FAIL AND AIDS

  108. Anonymous Anonymous 

    Woh! How cool is that?! I can still see a blue circle wherever my eyes go. That's brilliant! When you move your head back, you just get the full effect of the colour!
    It's a VERY nice colour

  109. Anonymous **********M A T T I S O N P.*********** 

    LIKE O-M-G!*!*!* ~!.....WOAH.....!~ MY EYEZ, LIKE, FEEL WIERD! U JUST DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH I ABSOLOOTELY <3 THAT BEAUTIFUL COLOUR! I PROBLY NEED 2 DYE MY CHILD'S HAIR THAT WONDERFUL COLOUR! HIS NAME IS SAM AND HE IS TWO, AND WOULD ABSOLOOTELY ADORE HIS HAIR MUCH MUCH BETTER IF HIS HAIR WAS CYIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!O-M-G!

  110. Anonymous jeffi 

    i think it would be better if we all just pooped on the world.

  111. Anonymous Rachel 

    That is a really pretty colour! I love it!

  112. Anonymous Anonymous 

    Um..this is soo cool. Can we see this clour becuase our minds allow us to see it or is it just some computer made up thing? Im just asking!!!Anyways does this make us dumb?

  113. Anonymous Carla 

    My retinas are totally branded with the blue circle! The further away I moved my head, the bigger the cyan colored circle got until it started going out into the white part outside of the rectangle! It's evil that that color doesn't exist on screens... now when I look at my hand, it's all blueish, and the further away my eyes are from my hand, the more blue area on it! It looked like a blue light on my hand...

  114. Anonymous Anonymous 

    wow that is so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

  115. Anonymous Anonymous 

    OMG! I love that color! I'm gonna go paint my room like that now!

  116. Anonymous Anonymous 

    My mouth was shaped into something like --> :O

    It's a great illusion

  117. Anonymous Anonymous 

    the model looks like and ipod

  118. Anonymous Anonymous 

    nothing special if you can do that your very speical

  119. Anonymous Dani California 

    it's just so beautiful and such a pure blue. such a gorgeous color

  120. Anonymous SEXY GURL 

    OMG i love this illusion. may i ask how long the blue circle stays with you . i love this colour

  121. Anonymous Daniel 

    It's a nice illusion, but it did originally come from Skytopia.com (check archive.org for proof). Try to give credit where due if poss :P Thx :D

  122. Blogger sash 

    it is a beatiful colour i love it soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much. I cant belive how pretty that colour looks

    BUT MY EYES HURT

  123. Anonymous Anonymous 

    It won't go away ahhhh. xD Interesting, I've never looked at something for so long. o_o