A Geoscience Digital Image Library
A Geoscience Digital Image Library
| Title | Sapphire from Mysore, India |
|---|---|
| Description | This specimen of gneiss contains several sapphire crystals, the most easily seen is a gray-blue hexagonal prism on the upper right surface of the sample. Sapphire is a name used for any non-red gemmy varieties of corundum, Al2O3, one of the hardest minerals known. The red variety of corundum is called ruby. Most people think sapphires are blue, and most of them are, but sapphire may be nearly any color. In “star sapphire” oriented crystal inclusions cause a six-pointed-star light effect (termed asterism. This sample is 11 cm across. |
| Location | India. Near Mysore. |
| Photographer | Darla Sondrol. 2001-07-03. |
| Collection | University of North Dakota Mineralogy Collection. |
| Key words | sapphire, corundum, India |
| Tech details | 1.01 MB. Hand specimen. Fujifilm FinePix S1Pro digital camera; 60mm AF Nikon micro lens. |
| GeoDIL number | 1021 |
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