Muséum national d'histoire naturelle _ The species

FROM : Machow, Poland
SIZE : 13 x 11 cm

This celestite sample shows a splay association of crystals lightly yellowish at its base. These crystals are very luster, sometimes tranpsarent and terminated.

This sample, acquired thanks to support from Total, comes from Machow mines in Poland which also provide very beautiful sulphur samples. It is kept in the storage rooms of the collections of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (i.e., not yet displayed to the public).

Photography: Louis-Dominique Bayle, © MNHN.

SPECIE : Celestite

HISTORY : Name inspired by the Latin "caelestis" meaning celest

Species first described in 1798 by Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749-1817), German geologist of the Bergwerk Akademie ("School of Mines"), Freiberg, Germany

Type-locality: Bell's Mill, Bellwood, Pennsylvannie, USA
ANCIENT NAME : Strontiane sulfurée

CHEMICAL FORMULA : Sr SO4
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Orthorhombic
COLOR : Colorless, white, blue ciel, pale green
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent to transludent
LUSTER : Vitreous, pearly
STREAK : White
MORPHOLOGY : Tabular crystals, bigs, elongated, fibrous, lamellar
HARDNESS : 3,0-3,5
DENSITY : 3,98

CHEMICAL CLASS : VI - Sulfates, chromates,
GROUP : Baryte
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 6/A.09-10
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 7.AD.35

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Celestite

Célestite

MNHN N°194.18

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