Celestine (Celestite)
Celestine (also referred to as Celestite) is a collector that is the uncommon treasure that is found as colourless, pale blue or rarely orange. This is a soft and gem that is fragile is quite hard to cut and not suitable for jewellery. Celestine is a Strontium that is unusual and mineral that is clearly a member of the Barite mineral team that also includes Anglesite and Barite. Celestine (SrSO4) is the strontium analogue of Barite (BaSO4). Celestine contains strontium (Sr) as opposed to Barite’s barium (Ba). Both have the structure that is same can develop very similar crystals.
Current sources are Rochefort, Namur Province, Belgium; Sakoany Mine, Sofia area, Mahajanga Province, Madagascar; Chihuahua, Mexico; Hunan Province, Asia; Andalusia, Spain; and in the united states at Maybee, Michigan; Chittenango Falls, New York; Clay Center, Ohio.
| Category: | Sulfate minerals |
| Chemical Formula: | SrSO4 |
| Strontium Sulfate | |
| Molecular Weight: | 183.68 gm |
| Composition: | Stontium | 47.70 % | Sr | 56.41 % | SrO |
| Sulfur | 17.46 % | S | 43.59 % | SO3 | |
| Oxygen | 34.84 % | O | |||
| 100.00 % | 100.00 % | = TOTAL OXIDE |
| Crystallography: | Orthorhombic – Dipyramidal |
| Crystal Habit: | Well-formed crystals common, typically thin to thick tabular and elongated yielding lath-like forms; or elongated to 45 cm with equant cross-section; also pyramidal, commonly striated. Fibrous veinlets or nodules with parallel or radiated fibre structure; massive granular; lamellar, earthy, rare. |
| Twinning: | Reported on {210}, {101} and other planes. |
| Cleavage: | Perfect on {001} and {210}, Poor on {010} |
| Fracture: | Irregular to Uneven |
| Tenacity: | Brittle |
| Moh’s Hardness: | 3.0 – 3.5 |
| Density: | 3.96 – 3.98 (g/cm3) |
| Luminescence: | Maybe Fluorescent. Yellow, Bluish White under SW UV and LW UV |
| Radioactivity: | Not Radioactive |
| Other: | Very slightly soluble in water. Slowly soluble in hot concentrated acids or alkali carbonate solutions. |
| Color: | Colorless, shades of Light Blue, White, Reddish, Greenish, Brownish, Greyish |
| Transparency: | Transparent to Translucent |
| Luster: | Vitreous to Pearly |
| Refractive Index: | 1.619 – 1.632 Biaxial ( + ) |
| Birefringence: | 0.009 – 0.010 |
| Dispersion: | 0.014; Moderate; r < v |
| Pleochroism: | Weak; Blue coloured material: shades of Indigo and Lavender-Blue, Bluish Green or Violet |
