Close-up Snowflake Photos, Wallpaper
When the snow from the Clipper system was ending late yesterday morning, the snowflakes got progressively larger. I took this opportunity to take My New Camera [JessePedia] out to the AccuWeather Deck and take some close-ups of the flakes -- or bundles of flakes as they actually are.
It's really interesting to see the different types of flakes present in these pictures.
For example, comparing the image above to the Official Snowflake Guide @ Cal Tech , from top to bottom, left to right:
- A Simple Star
- A 12-Branched Star (with unique round center!)
- A Radiating (or 2 Stellar) Dendrite
- Two Stellar Dendrites
In this image, I see:
- A Simple Star
- A Stellar Dendrite
- A Fernlike Stellar Dendrite
- Several Simple Stars
It's hard to tell if there are also needles in the photos, or they are only broken flakes. Caltech says that 12-sided snowflakes are rare, and are a form of crystal twinning, in which two crystals grow joined in a specific orientation. On the other hand, the "classic" Dendrites are quite common. Different snow crystal shapes form at different temperatures in the atmosphere.
I'm probably missing some things in the photo, so email me if you see something I don't.
This perspective photo below is available as downloadable wallpaper:
Dual Screen Wallpaper (2048x768) | Standard (1024x768) Wallpaper
And, by the way, the chance of two snowflakes being alike is approximately 10158 (that's a 1 followed by 158 zeros), according to that website. In other words, the answer is: Probably not.
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