Iridescence

[Valeria101]

The page seems to come from a free refference service of sorts with a scary copyright warning. Otherwise ...

However, there is this corner of the web with a mother lode of atmospheric irridescence: The Cloud Appreciation Society ! (kidding you not ) Most Amazing pictures! Although, nothing quite like that. Since those guys do not have scary warnings against sharing their content, I am posting one from one source of theirs.

Never heard about 'Nacreous Clouds' before either... just a scroll away. What a befitting name!

 

[Ashley]

Those are just gorgeous pictures!! There are times when I fancy seeing a rainbow in the clouds but it's never been as intense as that! My my my...

Once upon a time I watched an Aurora Borealis in Ketchikan, Alaska... it was mostly a lime green wash in the night sky, nothing as brilliant as some of the pictures here.

http://www.geo.mtu.edu/weather/aurora/images/aurora/jan.curtis/images/janc_001.jpg


This site here is REALLY cool- nothing to do with pearls, but also probably something that a few people haven't seen before either...
http://www.exploratorium.edu/learning_studio/auroras/fromspace.html

 

[jerin]

Auroras

Auroras

Thanks for the beautiful pictures in both of the last posts.

BTW - here in Northern Sweden but also far south You can see beautiful auroras in autumn - mostly they are shifting in different green colours - beautiful! Come ande see....

 

[GemGeek]

My favorites list is filling up and it's all your fault! I keep getting all these great web sites. Who knew there was a cloud appreciation society? They're probably over there saying "Who knew there would be a pearl-guide society"? Ha!

Thanks
Blaire

 

[knotty panda]

Nacreous clouds! Mother of Pearl Clouds!

You have to see these!

http://www.atoptics.co.uk/nacr1.htm

 

[GemGeek]

Those photos are the best ever!

Three cheers for diffraction and interference!

 

[CortezPearls]

Hip Hip Hooray!!! For Nature and all of her Beauty...may Humanity learn to appreciate everything our Living Planet has given us.

 

[boo]

Okay here are some more:
iridescent clouds
http://epod.usra.edu/archive/epodviewer.php3?oid=369696

a glory
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040806.html

and butterfly/moth scales
http://newton.ex.ac.uk/research/emag/butterflies/gallery_optical_009c.html

I highly recommend both the EPOD (earth science picture of the day) and APOD (astronomy picture of the day) websites. Beautiful pictures and fascinating info.

 

[GemGeek]

Well Said! There is beauty everywhere, when we take the time to seek it. You can find iridescence in something as lowly as oil swirling on the surface of a puddle, or on the surface of wet mold --- or for that matter --- on the oil spot on my driveway

 

[GemGeek]

Boo -- great job! How did you conduct your search? The airplane shot was epic. It reminds me of an optic character sphere

In case someone hasn't seen that, I snatched the one from Gemology Online.com, a terrific site.

Okay, it's only part of one! In total, it looks like a gun sight - cross hairs surrounded by concentric rings.

 

[Slraep]

Hi Boo,

You forgot the green iridescence of muscle tissue coming from cooked, cured beef-----okay, forget that one.

Here's something. Waterbugs! They're the cutest!

http://www.kingsnake.com/westindian/cryptocephalusnigrocinctus1.JPG


Slraep

 

[GemGeek]

Waterbugs are only cute when they are outside Definitely cuter than glistening meat!

Blaire

 

[knotty panda]

Dear Slraep: Thank you so much for only posting the link and leaving the waterbug as optional viewing. You have such a keen eye, I need no other recommendation other than yours.

 

[Slraep]

The Panda is hungry for more info, eh?

The bugs are actually Chrysomelid beetles, male (dull orange and black) and females (iridescent purple and greenish yellow). They come from south-eastern Puerto Rico.

I have no idea if they like water more than they do land. But cute and iridescent they are!

Anyway, I hope that's what you mean by "leaving the waterbug optional". The link seems to work.

Slraep

 

[Slraep]

Here's another cool pic I "recommend" due to my "keen eye".

Doesn't this look like a dark natural pearl !! Unfortunately, if you try to pluck it, it will fly away as it is the eye of a of a dusky swallowtail, Heraclides aristodemus aristodemus(yes, that's what they say, two aristos) also from south-western Puerto Rico.

http://www.kingsnake.com/westindian/heraclidesaristodemusaristodemus2.JPG

 

[boo]

Boo -- great job! How did you conduct your search?

Actually, I didn't do a search - those are pictures I have collected over years of monitoring nature and skywatching sites. I download the pictures to use as a slideshow for my screensaver, and I save the links to where I found them in a massive file. I have amazing photos of colorful nebulae that I use as my wallpaper, too:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060825.html

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070611.html

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061120.html

And lest you think the bugs have the market cornered on iridescence, check this out:

http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/site/backyard_birds/myths/blue_feathers.aspx

(that link has a very annoying popup, but it is a cool read. I love the photo of the grackle, too)

I have always been a sucker for iridescence, which is perhaps why I find pearls so appealing. I collected that cheap carnival glass when I was a kid, and my earliest jewelry almost always had aurora borealis crystals. I have also been a skywatcher since I was young - rainbows and sundogs and sun pillars and fogbows and meteors and teeny tiny crescent moons - I love them all. The running joke in my family is that I will meet my end by walking off the side of a cliff while staring at the sky. (I have both tripped over speed bumps and walked into parked cars, but so far no cliffs...)

Finally, here is a photo that is completely off the iridescence topic, but relevant to the beauty and glory of the universe:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061016.html

And in case you choose not to read the text, I will direct your attention to the pale blue dot within the rings about 1/4 of the way in from the left side: our own dear planet Earth.

 

[GemGeek]

Thanks, those were spectacular pictures. I could get lost in the first photo. It looks like a painting --too beautiful to be real!

We've covered everything in this thread from the microscopic to the vastness of space.

My brain hurts!

Cheers,
Blaire

 

[Ashley]

Those are all gorgeous photographs, the world around us is truly gorgeous and unique! Here are some images of gemstone inclusions (our micro-world ) from AIGS

http://www.aigslaboratory.com/LaboInclusion.php?#Unheated Burmese Ruby

And the following pics are from the Micro Atlas

 

[Ashley]

Here's another image of inclusions found within a Mexican Fire Opal from Pala Gems, CA.
I'm trying to find interesting pictures of pearl inclusions, but they're almost non-existent!

 

[CortezPearls]

Hmmmm...there could be a good explanation for non-existent pearl inclussions. But here are my 2 cents...a 100% real pearl inclussion.
These 3 photos will show you a natural Sea of Cortez Pearl with a large biological inclussion.

Guess what it is and you will win Fame, and thy name will be carved on Heaven's Pearly Gates