My favourite images taken through my telescopes and microscopes to date.
Andy
Microscopy
More microscopy images from pot pond 12/3/2020
Zeiss IM microscope.
Mostly 4x objective, bright field.
These images are of one dead and one live crustacean from my pot pond.
Andy
Leaves and stalks small surface plants in pot pond
Zeiss IM35 microscope.
Andy
Organism in pond water, probably Vorticella
Zeiss IM35 microscope.
X10 phase long focus objective.
Bright field and phase photos.
Optical setting x1.0x.
Pictures taken with hand held Samsung S7 phone at ocular due to my laptop being busy elsewhere!
My daughter and I think this is Vorticella.
Andy
I think this Vorticella as bottom of cell appears to have curled up flagellum at bottom. See below from Patterson, Free living freshwater protozoa:
Microscopy from sample water pond at Beacon Park, Lichfield, 8/4/2020 – H&E staining
I prepared a second slide, this time stained with H&E stain to show up nuclear and cytoplasmic material – as is common with bacterial cultures, all I tend to see is a lot of nuclear material.
x20 and x32 objectives, x1.0-x2.0 Optovar magnifier.
Fixed, stained slide.
I think that almost all the little dots are bacteria!….But don’t worry, this is a highly concentrated sample in a centrifuge.
See also associated post regarding phase contrast microscopy on same sample of pond water from Beacon Park:
Microscopy from sample water pond at Beacon Park, Lichfield, 8/4/2020 – Phase Contrast
Andy
Photographs of H&E stained slide – some of the photos are of dark microscopy achieved using phase annulus and phase objectives on H&E stained sections:
Microscopy from sample water pond at Beacon Park, Lichfield, 8/4/2020 – Phase Contrast
Phase contrast, Zeiss IM35 microscope.
Live images.
x20 and x32 objectives, with Optovar magnifier x1.0 – x2.0
Andy
See also associated post about H&E stained example from same sample of pond water:
Microscopy from sample water pond at Beacon Park, Lichfield, 8/4/2020 – H&E staining
Phase Contrast Microscopy of live sample of pond water from Beacon Park:
VIdeos:
Most of what looks like bits of debris in the slide on still photographs turns out to be alive once you look at it with phase microscopy! Cork-screwing Spirochete bacteria can be seen plus a whole range of other organisms – many are bacteria, others ciliated organisms.
Photos:
Zeiss IM35 microscope images 6/4/2020
Bubbles, 32x objective, Phase2, 2.0x Optovar
Plant material from pond. similar settings as above, except 1.6x Optovar:
Microscopy of Elodea pond weed, showing chloroplast and organelle movement 10/12/2019
Bright field
Live, unstained/unfixed
Andy
Firstly, an explanation about what is happening below:
Movement of chloroplasts around the cell is called cyclosis or cytoplasmic streaming. Other organelles such as mitochondria are also streaming, along with the chloroplasts. This movement is on intracellular tracks called microfilaments, composed of actin proteins. The organelles are attached to the actin filaments by myosin, a motor protein. These proteins transform the chemical energy in ATP into mechanical energy leading to change in protein conformation and the protein molecule “walks” down the actin filament.
In leaf cells under bright sunlight, chloroplasts may have the ability to “move into the shade” of other chloroplasts, called photorelocation. Chloroplasts gather in areas irradiated with weak light to maximize photosynthesis (the accumulation response), and move away from areas irradiated with strong light to minimize damage of the photosynthetic apparatus (the avoidance response). The processes underlying these chloroplast movements can be divided into three parts: photoperception, signal transduction, and chloroplast movement.
Photos:
x40 objective:
x100 oil objective: 
Video:
x40 objective:
x100 oil objective:
Insect casts on flower pot in kitchen
My wife asked me what the white fluff was on the side of a plant pot in our kitchen……it turned out to be insect casts from an infestation of the plant that eventually killed it – we quickly got rid of the plant and sterilised the pot and area!
Leitz Labourlux 11 microscope, bright field, no staining.
Bresser Microcam 5.0 camera.
Andy
x4 objective:
x10 objective:
x40 objective:
