#microphotography

[dame-de-pique]

Leo Wehrli - Snow Crystals, 1918

[theoldbone]

Andradite, garnet group, Livorno, Italy, photo by Bonifazi Marco

[sitting-on-me-bum]

"Beach sand."

Zhang Chao

National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing, China

Nikon Small World Photomicrography Contest

[neat-deadandlive-things]

Today's joy is brought to you by things found in 0.01mL of water.

[coffeenuts]

[robinboardman]

Longitudinal section through a white asparagus shoot tip (fluorescence, 10x objective lens magnification) Photograph: Dr. Olivier Leroux

[unfriendlypedestrian]

Here are a couple examples of a curated collection of microphotography of minerals. Full list here - https://www.mindat.org/g/103

Most of these images have a field of view of less than 1cm, many only 1-2mm.

From top left to bottom right:

Strengite, Spessartine, Linerite, Autunite (under UV light)

[accretion-disk-anxiety]

Microscopic structures & dermal cells on a sample of [I FORGOT THE NAME], favorite flower of @ghostpyre who was kind enough to mail me several samples!

The pink spikes in images 1-6 are for waste disposal in an arid environment - waste is pumped down the spines and bursts out the end, and is gone with a minimal amount of the water stored within.

Image 7 shows the dermal cells (the puzzle piece shapes) at the base of an intact petal of the flower. Many of the chemicals within have broken down since the sample was collected, reducing the color intensity within the tissue.

Image 8 is the skin of a fertilized seed, extracted from within one of the seed pods included - it's taken at the same magnification as the other images, so I'm guessing the large size of the cells is due to their young age.

Image 9 is the microscope slide containing the samples in images 1-6.

Thanks again to @ghostpyre for the flower and the opportunity ^_^