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Post by txrockhunter on Jun 18, 2016 12:26:49 GMT -5
Every once in a while I break out the "Spencer's" black light, to see if anything I've picked up will fluoresce. Until now, I've been skunked. I picked up an unknown botryoidal agate from an estate sale. I also had a friend give me some chunks of septarian and some sort of thunder egg, all collected in Utah. For the first time, something other than the handle on my rock chisel lit up! After doing a little research, it seams the cheap long wave "Spencer's" black light is a surface scratcher to the short wave UV lights. I'm not ready to invest in a $100 light, so I'll have to imagine what it might look like. Photos are total experiment, taken with a Galaxy S-7 in Pro Mode. For the most part, the best pictures were taken with 2 second exposure at 50 ISO. Anyway, I thought it was cool.....thanks for looking! The Mystery Botryoidal Agate (if you have any idea what it is or where it came from, I would love to know!)- Regular Lighting  Same View (slightly different angle) under UV  Side of one of the chunks-  Bottom of the above chunk-  Face of another chunk in regular light-  Same view under UV-  Some sort of Utah Thunder Egg with very clear center-  Same view under UV and clear turns green!  Septarian from Utah-  This is the Butt Cut from the above.  This is a septarian chunk dug at the same mine.  Jeremy- |
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napoleonrags
Cave Dweller 
Member since October 2015
Posts: 474 
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Post by napoleonrags on Jun 18, 2016 15:28:29 GMT -5
Awesome. Good job on the photogrsphy. I will often take the black light outside on moonless nights to shine on random rocks. I seem to always find something interesting.
Thanks for sharing,
Colin
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Post by Pat on Jun 18, 2016 15:48:55 GMT -5
Beautiful! I wish our eyes could switch at will. Thanks for the show.
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Post by rockjunquie on Jun 18, 2016 16:45:35 GMT -5
Great pictures! That septarian is really awesome!
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Post by fernwood on Jun 18, 2016 21:50:05 GMT -5
Very nice photography to show some awesome images.
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Post by Garage Rocker on Jun 18, 2016 22:05:20 GMT -5
Thanks for the show, interesting twist!
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Post by spiceman on Jun 18, 2016 23:07:21 GMT -5
That's looks great.
Walmart up the street from me has a black light on clearance if the price is right I will give it a try.
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,359
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Post by quartz on Jun 19, 2016 0:35:48 GMT -5
Interesting what the black light does, thanks for the show.
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Post by broseph82 on Jun 19, 2016 8:52:43 GMT -5
Go to Walmart and visit the sporting goods/camping section. They have pocket blacklight flashlights for like $10 and it's pretty good. It's LW but works and isn't hundreds of dollars.
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Post by drocknut on Jun 19, 2016 9:16:28 GMT -5
Very cool rocks. I have a blacklight but don't use it very much. I think it is long wave too.
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Post by jakesrocks on Jun 19, 2016 10:33:52 GMT -5
Very nice pics. You may find that under SWUV they won't light up at all. Some minerals react to only LW. Some to only SW, and some will react to both, ( usually brighter under one than the other). Try suddenly turning the light off. Some minerals will continue to glow for a while after being exposed to UV.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,723
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Post by Fossilman on Jun 19, 2016 10:37:48 GMT -5
A lot of my thundereggs glow under UV lighting too-great photos of your glows...
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Post by broseph82 on Jun 19, 2016 23:14:04 GMT -5
A lot of my thundereggs glow under UV lighting too-great photos of your glows... Yep I have some that glow. Ruby in fuchsite will glow crazy bright! |
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Post by txrockhunter on Jun 20, 2016 14:46:14 GMT -5
Thanks, everyone! Colin, it's amazing what you can find with the black light! Some things you really don't want to see  ! Pat - That would be crazy cool! Imagine the marketing possibilities with black light posters everywhere! jakesrocks - That's helpful info on sw vs. lw. I tried your experiment and a couple of them continued to glow for 15-20 seconds! very cool! Fossilman - I tried the black light on the thundereggs you sent. I didn't get any to illuminate! Oh, well......they are way cool in regular light, so that's the most important thing! |
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Post by jakesrocks on Jun 20, 2016 16:05:58 GMT -5
If using the UV light outdoors, don't pick up rocks that appear to be moving. Scorpions glow green under UV, and I've heard that some rattlers will glow as well.
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Post by Pat on Jun 20, 2016 18:39:29 GMT -5
If using the UV light outdoors, don't pick up rocks that appear to be moving. Scorpions glow green under UV, and I've heard that some rattlers will glow as well. And the scorpions in Clear Creek (home of benitoite) glow the same color as benitoite. |
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Post by jakesrocks on Jun 20, 2016 19:22:31 GMT -5
If using the UV light outdoors, don't pick up rocks that appear to be moving. Scorpions glow green under UV, and I've heard that some rattlers will glow as well. And the scorpions in Clear Creek (home of benitoite) glow the same color as benitoite. Cool.Must have something to do with the minerals they're getting in their diet in their local habitat. |
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Post by spiceman on Jun 20, 2016 20:19:38 GMT -5
Well, using the black light outside and seeing moving rocks or critters... Nothing like that around here.
So, black light rock hounding is something to think about.
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