Hexagonal Plate Crystal

Provided by: The Schwerdtfeger Library

The above is but one example of several thousand snow crystal photomicrographs taken by Wilson Alwyn Bentley (1865-1931) -- all prepared on glass lantern slides at his oudoor laboratory near his home in Jericho, Vermont. This comely crystal is referred to as a plate with sectorlike extensions (classified as P2f). Note the central hexagonal plate from which the extensions grew.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Jim Foster and Martin Ruzek

Related Links:

• The Schwerdtfeger Library (Bentley Collection)
• Snow and Ice Crystals
• Electron Microscope Snow Crystals
• About Snow and Ice
• Snow Crystal Classification
• More About Wilson Bentley