Most people know that every single snowflake that falls is unique, but most people never get to see them in all their detailed glory. Scientists from the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center used the latest in high-definition microscope technology to capture these amazing imagines of snowflakes like you've probably never seen them before. The snowflakes weren't the only things while these images were being snapped; the microscope itself had to be chilled all the way down to -274 Fahrenheit in order to take these pictures. Researchers from out of state collected the snow samples and shipped them back on special copper plates, frozen in liquid nitrogen. For this project, the scientists wanted to examine natural snow, as manmade snow has a decidedly different structure. The reason for studying these snowflakes was for scientists to get a better idea of how they might impact various ecosystems.
Website: Beltsville Agricultural Research Center
Looking at these images, its amazing to see just how much snowflakes vary from one another. They're not just slightly different but truly unique.
It wouldn't be too hard to believe that these images came from some sort of some sort of strange organism or even from another planet. But no… Just plain old snowflakes.
We bet you'll never look at snowflakes in quite the same way again.