The fluorescent exhibits are displayed along the walls of the so-called Rainbow tunnel that was excavated in 1990.
The walls of the tunnel are lined with rare minerals that glow bright green and red under ultraviolet light.
Sterling Hill is the treasure chest of minerals.
More than two dozen of these have been found nowhere else on Earth.
The mine is equally famous for its fluorescent minerals.
Almost 90 different mineral species have been documented as fluorescent.
Geology.comexplains what causes fluorescence in minerals.
Quoting from the website:
All minerals have the ability to reflect light.
That is what makes them visible to the human eye.
Some minerals have an interesting physical property known as “fluorescence.”
This change in wavelength causes a temporary color change of the mineral in the eye of a human observer.
Photo credit:victoriatretno/instagram
Photo credit:Jeff Glover/Smithsonian
