Heart of Ice

Anyone ever see a pink snowflake before? As unbelievable as it may seem, this colour is not faked. View large by click on the image!

This is a phenomenon I have noticed recently. Some center elements of snowflakes have exhibited green/cyan and pink/magenta solid colouring. These colours are familiar in chromatic aberrations created by the lens, but are not located on the high-contrast edges that typically identify such aberrations.

The colour is caused by very specific optical interference within the different layers of ice. Pink and green colours are often the result, and can show up in the “iris” of the crystal.The rainbow colours in the branches may be cause by either optical interference or a prism effect – or both! Physics works in wonderful ways to add colour to a snowflake.