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Orange Rare Astrophyllite Crystals. From Água de Pau volcano, San Miguel Island, Azores District, Portugal. Photo: Serge Lavard
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Astrophyllite is a rare mineral. Its crystal structure can be described as small blades extruding in a radiating pattern from the center like a star or snowflake. Belonging to the astrophyllite group, astrophyllite may be classed either as an inosilicate, phyllosilicate, or an intermediate between the two. It forms an isomorphous series with kupletskite, to which it is visually identical and often intimately associated. Astrophyllite is of interest primarily to scientists and collectors.
Astrophyllite
Formula: K2NaFe2+7Ti2Si8O28(OH)4F
Colour: Bronze-yellow, golden yellow, brown to reddish brown.
Lustre: Greasy, Pearly, Sub-Metallic
Hardness:3
Specific Gravity: 3.2 - 3.4
Crystal System: Triclinic
Astrophyllite minerals form in igneous rock deposited in cavities and fissures within the Earth’s crust. Igneous rock is formed during the cooling and solidification of liquid magma which can occur in one of two ways; the liquid magma can cool and solidify slowly underground or can be cooled and solidified quickly in the atmosphere or on the surface of the Earth after a volcanic explosion. When igneous rock is released into the atmosphere from a volcanic eruption it is known as pumice. Astrophyllite can be found in large masses of igneous rock and within pegmatite.
