![]() In one pocket we found an amazing crystal. We brought home a number of pieces to trim and break up looking for pockets. Many years ago my brother Steve and i were collecting fluorite from quartz veins at the Glendon Mine in Moore County. ![]() So, minerals with color centers such as amethyst and celestine will fade in the sun because those defects aka color centers are going away. Well it takes the energy of radiation to create these color centers and the theory is that the radiation from the sun will heal those color centers. ![]() There is much natural radiation in the earth and this is how all minerals are irradiated - unless they fell from space or were synthetically irradiated. I believe in the case with celestine there are color centers, a different case altogether, in which radiation creates defects in the mineral lattice that cause it to produce optical absorption bands. Photography uses this reaction creating photos with silver nitrate. Then, there's photochemical induced reactions in which there is a chemical reaction that causes a change in color. Color caused by chromophores are generally stable. One of which is the presence of chromophores or elements in structural positions in the crystal and their electron orbitals are more or less likely to absorbe or emit light of one color. There are few different ways that minerals get their color. It should be kept safely away from direct sunlight to keep it from fading further. Yes, Rebecca Celestine does fade from blue to colorless in direct sunlight. ![]()
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