A selection of unusual and striking microscopic images kindly sent in by the author.

Comments to the author Aaron Messing are welcomed.
 
 
 

Images (The images were taken with a Nikon Coolpix 990 digital camera unless stated otherwise.)

Intel 486 CPU. Epi-DIC of about 20% of the whole chip. Click above to view the master image.

Intel 486 chip CPU. Epi-DIC. Detail of the chip showing printed wiring. Click above to view the master image.

Intel 486 CPU. Epi-DIC 500X - detail of the smallest components. Click above to view the master image.

Pits on CD-ROM by brightfield. (Techniques for imaging the pits on a CD-ROM have been discussed in the sci.techniques.microscopy newsgroup by various contributors. Click here and here to read two recent threads.)

Pits on CD-ROM by darkfield.

A thin section of "Styrofoam packing peanuts" under brightfield illumination. I just cut a sliver by hand and put a coverglass over the specimen. I did not use a mountant because the foam does not wet easily and that causes bubbles.  This image was prompted by another interesting discussion thread on the sci.techniques.microscopy newsgroup about suitable ways to photograph this type of foam to study the cell structure. Image captured with a Polaroid DMC 1e camera which is a dedicated design with a 'c' mount.

The diatom Triceratium pentacrinus using phase contrast illumination. This image was also captured with a Polaroid DMC 1e camera.

Polarized light. Conoscopic image of oriented Brookite crystal. I have recently purchased a set of vintage Dr. Steig & Reuter oriented natural crystals mounted on slides for use with a polarized light microscope.  Mineralogists and crystallographers used these slides as standards to learn the various conoscopic interference patterns which are specific to crystalline structure.  Conoscopic images are views from the back of the objective and are very different from the orthoscopic image which is obtained from the front of the objective. I have 46 of the original set of fifty slides. The pattern for Brookite is one of the most interesting.