Charles Brooks Photographs The Interiors Of Musical And Scientific Instruments

🛸👽 Today’s #macromonday shot was taken at the Munich Gem Shows, where I took a closer look at this kickass Seymchan Nickel-Iron Meteorite sphere!

The macro shows a unique structure that can only form in meteoritic metal: Widmanstätten patterns, aka Thomson figures. This structure forms due to 2 alloys within the nickel-iron material, kamacite and taenite—as the meteor (often an asteroid fragment) is flying through space, it cools slowly, and the 2 alloys differentiate and form distinct crystals.

When the meteor impacts with earth (becoming a meteorite), it is cut and treated with acid. The acid etches the meteorite and reveals its interior lattice structure, and these fine patterns of crystallization we call Widmanstätten patterns. A super cool formation that teaches us more about meteorites and the universe around us!

🛸👽 #widmanstatten #thomsonfigures #meteorites #spacestuff #spacerocks #seymchan #meteors #macro #macrophotography #macroworld #minerals #rocks #munichgemshows #munich #phenomenalgems

The Fuller Anglo-Saxon Brooch, late 9th Century CE, The British Museum, London

This large Anglo-Saxon silver brooch is of extraordinary craftsmanship and perhaps belonged to a high-ranking churchman, or even a nobleman from the court of King Alfred the Great (871-899 CE). The central part is decorated with five figures representing each of the human senses. Sight is in the centre with large bulging eyes, and he is surrounded by Touch, Taste, Smell and Hearing, who can all be identified by their actions.

Scrimshawed ostrich egg, 19th century

'The Hitching Stone' Ancient Landscape Feature, Keighley Moor, Yorkshire