This gets me up to x15 magnification! It is a 1.7 inch tall by 1 inch wide rough crystal of Aquamarine. The crystal is standing on the far end. The view is off center from straight above because I wanted to capture the profile of the black schorl needles (looks like just a shadow from this angle it is so thin). Again I used only the blue LED light (entering from the image bottom). The natural blue of the Aquamarine sure loves to glow in a light of the blue LED for illumination! The schorl is a black form of Tourmaline. The larger golden lump above the needle is also schorl but it is reflecting the light coming out of the Aquamarine. The background of textured black and blue is the black cloth the crystal iss standing on.

Same crystal but laid on its side to look down on the schorl needles. The lighting is changed to overhead fluorescents and the scope's built-in LEDs. The inclusions in the Aquamarine crystal structure show up as streaks of white and brown (it's not a very gemmy specimen). At the right side you can see the remains of the quartz crystal the Aquamarine grew from.

This is green Brochantite acicular needle crystals growing on a quartz substructure. Each needle is about 1mm in length. The magnification is x35 and the lighting is fluorescent overheads and the scope's LED array. If you care to see an image of the whole specimen, it is BRO-21 in the Amethyst Galleries catalog. I enjoy two aspects to this image: the almost forest growth look to the way the needles formed; and, the clarity of the image shows the crystal shape of the tiny drusy quartz elements of the rock quite vividly. What a pretty green color! It most likely is due to the Copper in the crystal's chemical make-up of CuSO4·3Cu(OH)2.

This x35 is from another location on the Brochantite specimen. In the Northeast quadrant the narrowness and fragility of these needle types can be seen. They aren't 'broken' pieces of other needles but the start of new clusters beginning on the bare quartz.

Another Brochantite specimen, BRO-20 this time, reveals how lush these needles can grow. Here they remind me more of a well cared for lawn. Fluorescents and scope LEDs used to shine light on this x25 magnification. The fan pattern (acicular) of their growth can easily be seen in several spots

This is a specimen of Mimetite (MIM-22). The crystal is the size of a large pea in this x35 mag. In other lighting there seems to be about 8 segments merged into the single sphere. a few of the high points of those substructures can be discerned around the periphery of the button. I thought the orange hue of this one is a nice change from all the teal of the previous pix.

This mineral specimen brought me a nice surprise. In the literature that described it, there was just mention of the orange Spessartine growing on some smoky quartz. "Fine, some complicated growth that looks like barnacles growing on an ancient ship bottom," I thought. I set up and captured this shot at x25 under fluorescents and LEDs. After this shot I examined the rest of the specimen and found a surprise I will post an image of over the next few days.
The orange Spessartine is hard to get a fine image of because it IS like barnacles with its isometric hexoctahedral growth pattern. It can be faceted against the grain and is often found produced in that manner and referred to as orange Garnet. Here in the small crystal stage of growth, it appears as some ornate gold encrustation adorning the almost black smoky quartz.

I just rediscovered this thread. The photos taken with the microscope are simply amazing.
When I can get my butt in gear, I'll try to marry my new Canon camera with my *new* (and under used) telescope to see if I can get some decent results. Don't hold you collective breaths though...

You'll have one happy viewer at the least!


As I turned SPS-11 under the scope LEDs, I expected to find more of the black bar with an orange encrustation. Then a shot of red hit me. I wasn't offended by that errant color but intrigued. Was it a tiny Ruby? I checked the Amethyst Galleries literature on the specimen for its source location, Eastern China - not a known Ruby area. What then? Possibly a rare bit of Pyrope? looked like it and the encyclopedias say it grows from and with the same mineral solution as Spessartine. But it doesn't seem dark enough. So, there is a red variety of Spessartine and that is probably what it is, just a much darker red/orange growth. But why did these (I found two other gems) grow so much larger than the golden orange ones? Ah, the mysteries of Nature.
I like this image at (zoomed from x25 to) x35 because I was able to discern the face growth plate edges on both the red thing and the small orange crystals. It was filmed (my hand held microscope is actually a video micro-camera that allows me to capture single frames of image) using some extra LED illumination from a hand held light source (fancy way of saying flashlight/torch) to highlight the angles of the gem faces. This area of the specimen doesn't have the smoky quartz as a bedrock. There is a chalky limestone-ish material that gave rise as a host surface for both the Quartz and the Spessartine.
To come: the other two red crystals on SPS-11.

I find an aspect of the image on this second of SPS-11's three red crystals serendipitous and that is that the angle captured is in line with the top face of the structure at its left side, allowing us to see how broad and flat it is. The photo is again at x35 with fluorescents and LEDs. This growth arises from the smaller of the two major Smoky Quartz crystals. Some of the white rock shows in the background. If you zoom the image, you can see some Spessartine crystals starting to grow on the black quartz (could there be a better backdrop?) that must be at the hundred molecule size (a guess).

This is the third source of red flash I found on SPS-11. Its location is the opposite end and side of the smaller Smoky Quartz from the second red crystal shown here yesterday. In this shot you can see from the three reflecting faces (one is almost edge on) that the facet surfaces aren't in any easily discernible relationship to each other... and that hints more toward them being Spessatine with its isometric hexoctahedral growth manner. Again this is at x35 under fluorescents and LEDs. Also, there are some new crystals to be seen starting their growth on the quartz face to the left of the red thing. A little above them in the Spessartine fields is one growth that, sure looks like, a face glancing off to the right!

The next image coming soon is at the maximum magnification of the scope. The setting says x40 but the scope's supposed to get to x50. I need to calibrate the setting scale. The specimen is from the Rogerley Mine in Northeast England from along the Wear River near Frosterley.

I find all of these pictures fascinating - thanks for sharing.

You're welcome.

This is some Fluorite (FLU-167 in the Amethyst Galleries Catalog) from the Rogerley Mine of NE England. That is a mine now run commercially for just extracting mineral specimens for sale to collectors and institutions.
My scope is set for the max magnification (x40-50). The illumination is overhead fluorescents and the scope LEDs with an LED flashlight held to highlight the crystal faces.
I inspect the specimens under lower mag until something catches my eye. In this one it was from an underlying crystal set behind some larger cubic ones (which means its older?). I noticed what looked like a letter L or a corner of a frame. Zoomed in you can see it is an older crystal (reflecting my Flashlight) that has a smaller, perfectly positioned flake of a new crystal growing on its face. The newer, smaller crystal isn't reflecting the flashlight which means it is at a different angle than the one it's growing on. Okay, so something interfered with the angle when it began laying down plates. I can see two plate edges on it toward its lower half that do reflect the light indicating the edge of each. So, that's three plates at a molecule or two each in thickness starting the structure of the smaller crystal. Incredible! I was thrilled to see the thinness of the new crystal being apparent and that it is esthetically pleasing in its positioning. Would Picasso have enjoyed the cubist aspect of this piece of nature, I wonder?
Some of the larger crystals show the light metallic green of this Fluorite variety. It was originally mined to act as a flux in the steel making process early in England's Industrial Revolution. It would draw off the impurities of the Iron ore when it was smelted. In that world, all the minerals were ground into a powder then melted in the blast furnace. What intricacies were lost to view forever in that process? Sigh...

A specimen of Turquoise (TUR-51) got the micro-scrutiny next. Most if not all Turquoise is found with Iron Pyrite (Fool's Gold) inclusions. It is found to inhabit voids in the turquoise matrix and conforms to the space available. It is rare to find it peeking out of its vein and exhibiting its own cubic growth form. I found such an example of that rarity in this sample. Here it climbs out in its lower left corner without showing its cube corner, which must have been under the vein pressure. But above there it goes square. In another image capture from the side it can be seen to rise a silly micrometer above the turquoise. This was imaged at x16 under fluorescents and LEDs.

Ah, Opal! A rainbow caught in a rock. Is the Leprichaun's pot of gold buried in the reverse side? The mechanism of generating the colored light in the rock is the same as in the sky, just not all inclusive of the colors from one spot. There is water trapped in nanometer thick gaps in the clear crystal. depending on the angle and the spectrum of the incident light, different colors emerge from seemingly inside the rock. I find it curious that the shorter wavelengths at the blue end of the spectrum aren't more abundant and that we are usually treated to so much red gleaming.
This specimen, OPA-52, is from the Lightning Ridge mother-lode in Australia. Sorry I haven't cited the sources of all the other minerals above. I vow to try to do that. Many of FT's members are located in areas where these specimens come from.
Anyway this was taken under Fluorescents and LEDs at x17 magnification. The 'C' ring of white in the lower left is a reflection of the 'scope's LEDs. The square-ish light block in he center top is the ceiling above my set-up. The stone is set on my black cloth background and the view in the upper right corner is of some polyethylene wrap I used to prop the stone at an angle to catch the best light return out of the Opal.

Everyone's least known mineral: Hemimorphite! They are the white crystal rods in the background here. I was investigating the odd piece of this specimen (HMI-17). From this broken, open end it goes almost an inch to be the central point from which the rods radiate. Seeing that the interior of this beige pillar piece looked like some spotted dick pudding, I later applied my other colored light sources on it. One proved very interesting (tomorrow's posting). In this light though there is some aspects of the bit to garner. Lack of perspective in photos doesn't allow you to see that the brown segment goes almost an inch into the image before the crystals begin their radiating. At x50 magnification we can see that the pudding is encased in a two layer wrap. The middle layer looks like it is dried-out, dehydrated pudding. The outer casing looks shiny as if it was coated in a clear glaze (Isn't spotted dick supposed to have a sweet glaze on it?). That coating may be the solution that lent its components to the formation of the Hemimorphite crystals. I can only speculate on that as I wasn't there to see them grow. I speculate that the pudding was slowly dripped into existence as a mini stalactite (the part that hangs down and is usually found in long lance-ish growths). Then the cavity closed to dry it and where it grew was opened to allow a liquid solution to enter and grow crystals.

Same specimen, different light wavelength. I didn't move the specimen, the scope or its magnification. Funny, the pudding's raisins have all but disappeared! This means that there was a wavelength in the full light that was being absorbed by some mineral that is reflective of the blue wave lengths. After seeing this, I shone two more wavelengths on it.
When I put HMI-17 away, there were some tiny flakes remaining in its place. evidence that the plates growing across the rods aren't very strongly bonded to their earlier deposit brethren. This habit I think is shown in the upper right rod by the white circumferential band around the rod. Maybe not. What will the other lights show?

Moving on to green wavelengths the dark specks are more, but still faintly, visible in the core. The encapsulating two layers are a touch more visible too. The plate break in the upper right rod is much more visible. Other than those points, there isn't anything spectacular to note. One more color to try, the longer wavelengths of red.

Wow, where'd all that surface texture come from? Under this solitary red LED the middle wrap layer has disappeared. All signs of fracturing in the rods, especially that upper right one have gone. I'm left wondering whether the red light is passing deeper into the pudding in some spots due to some molecules that pass that wavelength or if that light is being absorbed by some surface bits and not being reflected. I can speculate that the wavelength of red is too long to effectively reflect in the rod cracks. Curiosity unanswered makes me turn to pick up the next specimen to see what mysteries are to be found there.
In this series of images I did not move the scope, the specimen and tried to position the light source in the same spot and angle. That couldn't exactly be replicated because the scope housing its own LEDs was in the way, but the colored pix are the same in every aspect I could control.

More Spessartine, but here as a cut and faceted gem it's Spessartite. This is a Garnet Simulant grown and produced in Sri Lanka. It is a 4 carat 12x10 oval cut in diamond brilliant manner (56 faces? I didn't count). It is a lab grown specimen hence the simulant. You'd think in a lab they'd get it perfect. But Nooo. You can see the inclusions near the table (top) surface and down some of the low side facets in this x33 magnification image. I took it with just my flashlight LEDs since the scope employs 2 'white' wavelengths (soft and bright). This light highlights the inclusions in such a way that the larger ones (visible indicators of what the smaller ones are?) look like gas bubbles trapped in the material deposition step. Anyhow, even though I'm using off axial lighting and the cut, though brilliant, is oval and not round, some of the indicators of a good brilliant cut arrowheads (8 equally spaced around a round table 8 unequally spaced around an oval) can be seen across the top side of the image. Not shown here but in the pavilion looking up through the stone 8 hearts can be seen in a good brilliant cut.
At least the orange color is spot on for this orange garnet!

Edit to add this link at Wikipedia about Diamond cuts and all the faceting that can go on with most gemstones, not just diamonds:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_cut

Oh, alright. Here's a heart from a pic looking into the Spessartite's pavilion. The light is from the right and comes in at an angle parallel to the table (top). The Scope's lights are off. When they're on all the facets light up. I like how the outer rim facets glow. And there's still the gas bubble inclusions to be seen. The other white bits are lint and dust on the outside of the stone I believe.

Is it late October already? That's the season of orange for Halloween, right? Most of the specimens this month have been orange of some sort, from the button of the Mimetite to the pudding of the Hemimorphite, which in white light had aspects of that color to it. I'll try to finish out the month with orange images.
This is Wulfenite (WUL-46). It is usually a cubic rod with a pyramidal top. In this x28 image, the side of a crystal can be seen in the upper right quadrant. The square-ness is easy to identify. The start of the pyramidal peak is there on its top side. I cannot figure out how a mineral that grows to those simple geometric parameters can be so undisciplined in its face growth (as evidenced in the orange/white contrasts in the surface). The side looks like it was chiseled out of a quarry and placed here, very mechanical in it outline, random in its particulars. There's probably some molecular matrix variable I can't fathom that accounts for it.

Wulfenite also grows in a flake form. I've turned off the scope LEDs and bottom lit WUL-41 in this orange offering. You can see the near edges of three flakes in the mid frame area. Though all are square in the broad face, at this angle they look a bit like dagger points. In the lower flake, you can get a sense of how transparent they are if looked at through that broad face. Even in these thin examples, in a few spots you can see that the faces aren't flat at a molecular size. Again looking at the thinnest flake, the lower one, some dark spots distorting the passage of the light from below indicates an uneven surface. Below these three is one that points toward the lower right picture corner. It is seen almost head on to the narrow dimension giving us a good idea of how dark the orange can be. The peak corners of the top and bottom flakes of the center three appear to be starting to give rise to new growths. There is another flake off camera that may be the largest at twice the size of these pieces and surprisingly it has a rounded broad edge. I will try to get a shot of it but at first glance it wasn't much to look at and was hard to position for a clickety-click (my scope makes my computer go click when I push the image capture icon, a complete carryover from the old Polaroid/microscope hybrids!) This image is at x35 magnification. The overall specimen size is 50mmx25mmx25mm and each of these flakes are about 2mmsqx0.2mm.

All the pics are great, but so are the text explanations!
You're obviously having a great time with your toy.
oh p.s. thanks for the photo of that glorious opal - it's my birthstone - I've never seen one quite that close up before!