These types of huge perfect specimens always take my breath away when I am able to see them in person. To think that this kind of stuff just kinda exists buried in the earth...

I am a part of a local mineral club which hosts several "field trips" a year to various mineralogically interesting locations (most of which aren't accessible as an individual, like private land and special digs at active mining/quarrying sites on their days off). I have never found anything even remotely as beautiful as the specimens shown, but the small collection of mildly interesting things that I've smashed out of the earth with my own 2 hands is amazingly satisfying to me. You don't even have to be a super dedicated "rock nerd" to take part, I highly recommend looking for local mineral clubs to join if this even remotely interests you. It's really a ton of fun!

I've been to a few mineral museums like this and one of the interesting ones you can come across is Asbestos. Just hanging out there on display right next to some other mineral. It forms beautiful formations just like the rest, but I've heard so many mesothelioma lawyer commercials that it's easy to forget it's a completely natural material. Also one you can pick apart like cotton and weave into a fabric - it's a flexible material, made out of a rock, which can kill you.

The asbestos formations are ones they keep behind glass.

Kind of fun to think that the crystalline structure of minerals is an "echo" of their arrangement of atoms. A repeating pattern on a scale we can actually observe.

these dramatic and colorful massive specimens are perfect for an art museum, but as a recovering mineralogist I feel like the true beauty of the world of minerals in Earth is shown on the microscopic level, where you can see both the incredible order and incredible randomness of the (mostly) crystalline solids that make up minerals. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_section

There is an idea that minerals are these inorganic substances but fully two thirds of all minerals identified were originated from direct or indirect interaction with living things on Earth. In fact a recent hypothesis holds that minerals have evolved since the formation of the solar system very much like living things, getting more and more complex via selective processes. See https://hazen.carnegiescience.edu/research/mineral-evolution

Me Mum[0] was a geologist. I grew up with stuff like that, all around the house.

I still have a lot of it.

[0] https://cmarshall.com/miscellaneous/SheilaMarshall.htm

For us nerds in the Portland/PNW area, the Rice Museum out in Hillsboro—despite a name suggesting it has an exhaustive display of rice varieties—has a terrific collection of large and unique mineral specimens. https://www.ricenorthwestmuseum.org

The Cubes are the most captivating to me. Organic mishmash of polyhedra and assorted blobs is one thing, but perfect cubes is uniquely striking.

Prague national History Museum has an amazing collection of these. Truly a hidden gem.

One of my favorite topics and a hobby finally makes it to Hacker News

<swoon>

Fine mineral specimens are the most surprising things on earth. Such regularity and color! It reminds you that every atom of an element, every molecule of a compound is exactly the same (caveat energy states), and the laws of physics and chemistry don't change. That's how these stunningly bright and REGULAR forms develop - trillions of atoms or molecules all falling into line.

The Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh has the absolutely stunning Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems.

https://carnegiemnh.org/explore/hillman-hall-of-minerals-and...

Spent many hours there

oh my god, this is gorg. i love museums for the same exact thing. there's so much you donno and every visit just leaves me in awe. thank you for sharing it. big wide bful world

“Are you familiar with the Stone Tape Theory?”

(Post Malone’s response in a Joe Rogan interview when asked about McKenna’s Stoned Ape Theory)

Houston has a good collection too.

https://www.hmns.org/exhibits/cullen-hall-of-gems-and-minera...

First thought in my head was that these would make great demos for 3DGS: both geometry and light interactions are non-trivial. I imagine that makes them difficult to capture with traditional photogrammetry

If you have a large pile of spare cash and want your own gem museum, there's one closing down: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c937d7p0gzpo

Oh wow, wish this had been posted sooner! This Saturday 4/18 is the last day to see this exhibit if you're in/near LA.

If "dead" things look this much alive, imagine how hard it is to determine life on other planets. Real life could look much more dull than these things :-)

The first picture looks like aura quartz to me (crystal with an artificial metal coating). Is it natural?

Check out the yt talk on "king of kashmir" .. the world's largest aquamarine discovered in Karakoram mountains (pakistan) .. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujGJwq3PaU0

For a while I thought what could there be to see in the petrified national forest. It's mineralized trees (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrified_wood), and there were enough different minerals in the area to make different colors. Definitely worth a visit.

They're minerals, Marie!

God, or Cthulhu?

pretty crystals are pretty, gonna file this under "cool game dev inspo"

absolutely stunning

Tellus in Georgia has an incredible collection:

https://tellusmuseum.org/exhibit/weinman-mineral-gallery/

Coming across perfect cubes in the wild must be insane

Some of these look pretty cool actually.

I don't see any god though, but I think I saw godzilla hiding in one of those shapes.

[dead]

[dead]

Cthulhu*

Imagine associating god with some minerals.

The shamans would test your ability of spirit by qualifying if you "Know the Stone People". They are the oldest beings, the keepers of deep wisdom and knowledge.

The Crystals. They speak to me.

I didnt like the title. Even if the pictures are nice.

Don't know why, but I think of Aliens instead. Gorgeous pictures!

reminds me of a quote from my favorite band: God thinks in the geniuses, he dreams in the poets and he sleeps in the rest of the people

Hank Schrader from breaking bad

"They are not rocks, they are minerals marie"