Photographing Snowflakes in Freefall

A camera has been developed to show photographs of snowflakes in freefall.
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stanze/Flickr/CC

Photographs of snowflakes are beautiful. This is undeniable. But what if you could take pictures of them not after they've fallen but in mid-flight, as they descend to the ground?

A team of researchers at the University of Utah have developed a Multi-Angle Snowflake Camera (and a company around this technology) that does just this. The camera has many scientific applications related to weather modeling but it's also amazing to just see some of these snowflakes mid-fall.

Here are some examples of these photos:

Tim Garrett
Tim Garrett
Tim Garrett

You can even see photos being taken right now at a ski area here.