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21st Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
Tertiary Flying Saucer

Polarized light photomicrograph a 30-µm-thick “thin section of rock. In this case a fossiliferous limestone from Samos, Greece The flying-saucer-looking object of this image is in fact the fossil skeletons of Nummulites, unicellular organisms occupying an important ecological niche of shallow and warm marine habitats during the Tertiary period, after the disappearance of dinosaurs. I like to disclose the secret beauty of small thin pieces of common or semiprecious rocks when seen with the polarizing microscope. The rock samples are from my geological research, or have been acquired/collected on purpose for aesthetic photography.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 07.2023
Date Uploaded: 11.2023
Photo Location: Italy
Camera: NIKON D5500
Copyright: © Bernardo Cesare