Like a Kid in a Candy Store

As a biologist I have always had access to a microscope, whether in school or operating a lab, a microscope has always been an integral part of being a biologist.  But for the past several years I have not had access to a microscope.  A good compound microscope is expensive and all I really needed was a dissecting microscope but even those can be expensive.  A local dissecting microscope became available but tires for the vehicle had priority and ate up all the savings.  So I had been looking online at available microscopes.  Noticing that a variety of USB digital microscopes were available I began looking at them as opposed to a traditional dissecting microscope.  While most available digital microscopes have either no stand or a poorly designed stand, one manufacturer has included a solid stand to hold it's digital microscope, a must for steady closeup work.  Celestron, a telescope manufacturer, has a series of digital microscopes which come with adjustable stands.  I chose the 5 MP digital microscope based on the potential resolution and the adjustable stand.  With both course and fine focusing this digital microscope may also be calibrated for measuring objects.  Easy to setup and use, it will be a useful addition to my tool box allowing exploration of the 756 acre Painted Pony Resort at a much smaller scale.  Below are a few images made while testing the new instrument.

Celestron digital USB microscope

Secondary flaking along the edge of a burin.

Tentatively identified as a Longhorn beetle, tribe Lepturini .

Cut surface of an interesting magnetic rock from the estate under study.