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A nice piece of gemmy blue sodalite. The blue sodalite on this piece is very tenebrescent and changes color when exposed to UV (SW), darkening to a light purple - a unique hue compared to other Greenland sodalites due to the natural blue coloring. Under SW it starts out orange but quickly shifts to a rusty color due to the tenebrescence (see animation below to view the tenebrescent change).
The natural color is a beautiful blue - one of the only blue sodalites which is strongly fluorescent, not to mention slightly tenebrescent.
Many Greenland blue sodalite specimens also contain steenstrupine - a uranium crystal found in Greenland. It is less radioactive than your kitchen's granite countertop, but still a sought after mineral.
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.
