These Are the Highest Resolution Photos Ever Taken of Snowflakes

Came across this and thought i'd share it here. Just because these are some pretty beautiful pictures.

A mathematics PhD has developed a device, part camera, part microscope and captured the highest resolution images of snowflakes ever captured.







www.smithsonianmag.com...

nearly two years in the making, Myhrvold has developed what he bills as the “highest resolution snowflake camera in the world.” Recently, he released a series of images taken using his creation, a prototype that captures snowflakes at a microscopic level never seen before.

In simple terms, the system Myhrvold developed is comprised of one part microscope and one part camera, but with a number of parts that work in tandem to complete the arduous task of capturing an image of a snowflake, a subject that’s not only miniscule (most snowflakes measure less than a half-inch in diameter) but also quick to melt. In fact, a snowflake's tendency to disintegrate was one of the biggest challenges Myhrvold had to overcome with this project. His solution: equipping his 50-pound camera system with a thermoelectric cooling system, a carbon fiber frame and LED lights, which give off less heat than standard lights. Every single part of his Frankenstein-esque device, which stands at about five feet in height off the ground when placed on a table, was built using materials that are less likely to cause melting or sublimation of the subject matter.

“Light could melt the snowflake, so I found a company in Japan that makes LED lights for industrial purposes,” he says. “My camera’s flash is one-millionth of a second and a thousand times faster than that of a typical camera flash.”

a reply to: dug88

Damnit! Not the snowflakes I was looking for.

However i love this! Thank you

Edit: those are beautiful pictures you presented ATS. Yes these are grand

So Beautiful!

Thank you for sharing.

a reply to: Bigburgh

I,too, was expecting a pink hat and a joke but these photos are pretty beatiful.

Cheers dug88.

Beautiful and wonderful.

The geometry and symmetry of snowflakes has always been appealing to me. I'd love to see other examples of other material under the camera.

Johnny

a reply to: Tulpa

No snowflake is the same.

Truly amazing and beautiful!

a reply to: dug88

You threw me off... I was expecting something else, more like this.

Those pics are magnificent!
The symmetry, the sparkle.
Truly magical

a reply to: dug88

I love the idea of beauty so minuscule that it takes great effort to see.

Thanks for posting!

Fantastic pics!, the geometry is amazing.

I wonder what makes them symmetrical. Crystal grows out of a little irregular piece of dirt, so how does one branch know what the other ones are doing?

originally posted by: Blue Shift
I wonder what makes them symmetrical. Crystal grows out of a little irregular piece of dirt, so how does one branch know what the other ones are doing?

They’re not symmetrical.

Great photos none the less.

originally posted by: zosimov
a reply to: dug88

I love the idea of beauty so minuscule that it takes great effort to see.

Thanks for posting!

It's a beauty no man can keep.
Try to hold on to it and it's gone.

a reply to: Tulpa

I'd forgotten this riddle--it's a good one

These are gorgeous images showing the infinite number of possibilities built in to the universe.
If only we had the wisdom to understand precisely how that manifests itself in our reality.
As for the word Snowflakes;
it's definitely the wrong word for overly sensitive people of a certain persuasion.
Mashed potatoes (lumpy, yet still runny- very runny in fact)with arsenic gravy might be close to the truth.
Nature has zero to do with most of humankind's activities so let's not ruin a perfectly good word.

a reply to: dug88

Ever notice how there's no such thing as a perfect curve or circle, the universe is all made up of triangles and fractals.

Thank you! I enjoyed this very much!

Please post more of this kind of thing!

Identical snowflakes 1988
Rare, but they do exist.

originally posted by: Cobaltic1978

originally posted by: Blue Shift
I wonder what makes them symmetrical. Crystal grows out of a little irregular piece of dirt, so how does one branch know what the other ones are doing?

They’re not symmetrical.

Great photos none the less.

Not perfectly symmetrical, but seeing as how any branch could grow in any way independently of any other, they are often surprisingly balanced.