Once placed under a digital microscope, a slice of a low numbered chondrite like Krymka easily becomes an entire meteorite collection with hours of exploration ahead!
In my previous Accretion Desk article, I highlighted the inexpensive but powerful digital microscopes with built-in display screens. In this installment, let’s look at a few images captured by a digital microscope.
Mastery of the digital microscope happens within minutes of using it. The remote control can take pictures meaning no extra vibrations are introduced when clicking the shutter. And inexpensive fresh falls (at least with the micro-individuals) translate a small investment into a whole new meteorite hobby for kids and scientists alike!
Tiny individuals of Chelyabinsk suddenly spring to life under the microscope. Features invisible to the naked eye are exciting traits recording within the fusion crust the powerful events of the fall. The curved brown arc above the specimens is the edge of a Lincoln penny for scale..
The meteorite showcased here are near microscopic individuals of Chelyabinsk, an LL5 that fell in 2013 in Russia, Castalia, a xenolithic brecciated H5 that fell in 1874 in North Carolina, and Krymka, a stunning LL3.1 (or 3.2) that fell in 1946 in Ukraine.
Under magnification large individuals of Chelyabinsk may not be as exciting as the smaller ones. The crustal features are not proportional to size. Surface textures seem larger and more dramatic the smaller the specimen gets!
Most of these types of digital microscopes are simple to set up, intuitive to operate, and fast to switch between fields of view and perceived power. Also the onboard image recording, both still pictures and video, is excellent, and often much better than what the built-in screen can display.
Each chondrule gains its own identity under the scope. Stunning photographs can even be taken by patient children. These kinds of digital microscopes put incredible inspection power into the hands of anyone curious regardless of age.
When able to take a microscopic roadtrip around a meteorite specimen, even a common iron or unclassified hot desert stone, there is vastly more going on visually than it appears with just your eyes.
Brecciated slices such as Castalia become geologic maps filled with land masses, islands, divergent boundaries, continental transitions, and sharp geologic lines. Excitement is magnified as much as the specimen!
Some of the less obvious features require a little observational learning. But it takes only a few minutes to learn to look beyond the more flamboyant inclusions and see intricate and valuable details in even the smallest of features. Every shape, color and mixture becomes a magical visual experience.
Digital Microscopes cause the shape of inclusions to become more interesting, the color contrast to be much richer, and that the matrix is not just for background anymore.
Dr. Martin Horejsi is a Professor of Instructional Technology and Science Education at The University of Montana, Missoula. A long-time meteorite collector and writer, before publishing his column "The Accretion Desk" in The Meteorite Times, he contributed often and wrote the column "From The Strewnfields" in Meteorite Magazine. Horejsi is also the Lead Technology Reviewer for The National Science Teaching Association, and just celebrated his 22th year working with NASA and the JPL in education and public outreach (EPO), and is a NASA Solar System Ambassador.
Horejsi specializes in the collection and study of historic witnessed fall meteorites with the older, smaller, and rarer the better. Although his meteorite collection once numbered over a thousand pieces with near that many different locations, several large trades and sales and trades have streamlined the collection to about 250 important locations with all but 10 being witnessed falls.
Many of the significant specimens in Horejsi's collection are historic witnessed falls that once occupied prominence in the meteorite collections of Robert A. Haag, James Schwade, and Michael Farmer. Other important specimens were acquired through institutional trades including those from The Smithsonian Institution, Arizona State University, and other universities.
Horejsi was awarded the Harvey (Nininger) Award in Tucson in 2006, The Brotherhood of Guardians of the Ensisheim Meteorite in 2011, a JPL Inspiration Person, on the JPL STARDUST Team that was awarded the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Annual Trophy in 2008, and former board member of the International Meteorite Collectors Association, and the Northwest Council for Computers in Education.
