snowflake images under an electron microscope

‘snowflake images under an electron microscope’

for those of us in the northern hemisphere, winter officially arrived last week on december 21, a date known to the mayans as the end of a 5,125 year long calendar cycle. to celebrate the start of the season, designboom has selected some images of snowflakes magnified under an electron microscope from the electron microscopy unit of the beltsville agricultural research centre in beltsville, maryland. the following photographic series investigates different types of patterns found in snow from close up.

image © electron and confocal microscopy laboratory, agricultural research service, U.S. department of agriculture

falling snowflakes were collected at -22 degrees fahrenheit on bearded mountain, west virginia

image © electron and confocal microscopy laboratory, agricultural research service, U.S. department of agriculture

image © electron and confocal microscopy laboratory, agricultural research service, U.S. department of agriculture

100x magnification (top left) down to 1,800x (bottom right)image © electron and confocal microscopy laboratory, agricultural research service, U.S. department of agriculture

image © electron and confocal microscopy laboratory, agricultural research service, U.S. department of agriculture

image © electron and confocal microscopy laboratory, agricultural research service, U.S. department of agriculture

two views of hoar crystals from a wyoming snow pitimage © electron and confocal microscopy laboratory, agricultural research service, U.S. department of agriculture

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