They ARE pretty pictures, Adam. Congratulations! Actually if you energize at about 1kV or so... as you pump down, you get a lot of exciting dynamic and discharge activity at the higher pressures. I am noticing that most photos posted are quite strongly blue... (are you using a digital camera?) .. whereas to my eye, the glow on my unit is a pale orange pink...the typical O2 and N2 ionization glows. Then as the pressure drops to a few microns, it gradually turns to a pale whitish blue which I suspect may be Argon's ionizing. The % concentrations of Argon and Water usually go up dramatically as the pressure drops. Water because its stuck on everything, and Argon because it is heavier, and pumps more slowly at low pressures.
But I am wondering if the same phenomena happens here as with astronomical pictures, where the eye and film see colors differently.
Nice work... (Incidentally I made my spherical cage from tinned copper wire and soft soldered the joints. I have to watch the temperature.. but otherwise works well.)
Dave Cooper
Created on Monday, June 18, 2001 10:57 PM EDT by David Cooper