Microscopic  Meteorite Pictures  by Tom Phillips

One of my first thin sections was Gold Basin. It was covered and poorly prepared. I had taken some OK Xpol pass through light shots of it but I never could view it in reflected light.

For years I never revisited it. I guess I was to preoccupied with all the rare material thin sections Jeff Hodges was sharing with me, but it is such an important meteorite that is represented in most of our collections. So I acquired a well made polished thin section just to get some cool iron shots.

This time Gold Basin did not disappoint me (It's all in the thin!).

I never get tired of looking at the structure of iron in OC's. All those tiny shinny specks in a hand sample are beautiful and VERY complex when viewed at this level of magnification. On many of my old favorites I can recognize the meteorite just by seeing a speck of iron up close. I think of it like a meteorite finger print and Gold Basin has it's own very distinctive structures.

These are taken at a magnification of 700X in partially cross polarized incident (reflected) light.

And look at this! There are some melt veins in Gold Basin.

When I start looking at a nicely prepared polished thin section at this magnification it really sucks me in. I found myself at the scope when the sun started to come up and I had stared in the after noon.

These are viewed at a magnification of 1600X and once again, in partially cross polarized incident light. Slight rotation of the analyzer can change the reflectance that is viewed. It can make it look dark (nearly black) or bright and shinny. And the crystal orientation of the bits determine this reflectance. I play around with it until nice contrast of adjacent plates is achieved. Some times I just go for what looks cool!

Thanks for looking, Tom Phillips

 

Tom Phillips can be reached by email at:
STARSANDSCOPES@aol.com

The Tom Phillips Microscopic Meteorite Photography and Gallery