Amber under the Microscope

Amber is an organic gemstone that is formed from the hardened resin of ancient pine trees. The hardening process of Amber is known as polymerization, which fossilizes the resin over time and makes it solid and sturdy. Amber is formed from viscous, sticky resin, and therefore commonly contains inclusions that got stuck in the Amber and remained there when it hardened. These inclusions often include insects or plants, with the most well-known being mosquitoes. Amber with well-preserved organisms frozen internally are highly prized.

Macro Zoom Lens Microscope

Juan Pons of National Treasures of Mexico mines for amber in Chiapas, Mexico, a southern Mexico state bordering Guatemala. Deep in the mines of Chiapas, he locates pieces of Amber, many of which have inclusions of insects and flowers that are hundreds and even thousands of years old.

The images of amber shown below were captured using a macro zoom lens microscope system with the DCC2 2 megapixel CCD microscope camera. A feature on the software known as extended depth of focus was used with several of the images in order to capture in-focus images at different depths of field and then merging them into a single crisply focused image.

Amber piece with a flower encapsulated in it under a macro zoom lens microscope.

Insect inside amber captured under the microscope.

Amber captured at 60x under the microscope using extended depth of focus with the DCC2 microscopy camera.

Amber captured at 78x under the microscope using extended depth of focus with the DCC2 microscopy camera.

Amber captured at 90x under a macro zoom lens microscope.

Flower inside amber under a macro zoom lens microscope system.

Insect in a piece of amber captured at 17x under the microscope.

Insect in a piece of amber captured at 42x under the microscope.