Take a closer look...

The images below let us see butterflies in a very different way. These were created using a scanning electron microscope and some creative Photoshop work.

A Little Bit About Electron Microscopy

Electron microscopes illuminate the images using beams of electrons.  Because they have a shorter wavelength than light beams, things can be seen at higher magnification and higher resolution.  Incredible detailed images can be obtained.

Scanning electron microscopes image the surfaces of things.  The resulting image is black and white.  The photos below were colorized using Adobe Photoshop and the Tina Carvalho's imagination. 

Thanks to Tina Carvalho for the use of these extraordinary images.  For many more images and detailed information about electron microscopy, click here to visit Tina's site.  

Monarch Butterfly

Butterfly Scales - 220x

Butterfly Scale - 5000x

Butterfly Scale - 20000x

More Microscope Images

The images below are photos that I took myself using a standard microscope, not an electron microscope. Each butterfly or moth wing was viewed and photographed at different magnifications, with lighting from above.  The light reflects from the scales, allowing us to see the beautiful colors.  The colors shown are the colors our eyes would see...nothing has been retouched.

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60x

200x

Wing of Papilio ulysses, commonly called Blue Ulysses. This species is native to Southeast Asia.

Below is the wing from Papilio blumei, commonly called Green Blumei. It is also from Southeast Asia.

This wing comes from a Sunset Moth, Urania ripheus. It is native to Madagascar, and flies during the day rather than at night as most moths do.

The photos below are of an Indonesian sulphur butterfly called Hebomoia leucippe leucippe. Its common name is Golden Orange Hebomoia.

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