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An incredibly bright and colorful, fluorescent sodalite sphere. Orange sodalite, blue analcime, green chkalovite and black arfvedsonite come together in this sphere to create a stunning pattern under UV. The sodalite (hackmanite) on this sphere is some of the most tenebrescent material in the world.
When exposed to shortwave UV, the sodalite darkens to a deep grape purple, almost black. When you shine a bright white light, the color reverts back immediately. You can repeat this process over and over again. It's also longwave tenebrescent, meaning it will darken with exposure to longwave 365nm or just bring it out in the sun! Longwave tenebrescent sodalite is exceedingly hard to find on the market, let alone in sphere form.
They were nicknamed "Yooperlites" which is derived from the name “yooper”. A yooper is a nickname for the Upper Peninsula natives and these fluorescent stones quickly gained fame. After data was published on these fluorescent stones, it was discovered that sodalite is the actual true mineral that is fluorescing orange.
365nm UV light is often called "blacklight". Before the advent of longwave UV LEDs, blacklight fluorescent tubes, (the kinds used in hippie days to light up psychedelic posters) were the standard longwave UV light for our hobby. They were not very powerful but they did light a large area.
Enter 365nm UV LEDs
First, an animation showing the difference between the UV flashlight we recommend (365nm filtered UV flashlight) versus unfiltered 395nm UV flashlights we see many folks carrying around at shows. So. much. visible purple light. We selected a bunch of rocks as a demonstration. Took pictures of them under his flashlight without the filter and then with the filter.
