We all thought that winter is a period of the year when temperature drops because of how the Earth revolves around the Sun. But what really happens when winter comes is a lot more fascinating: little ice fairies like to sleep for a very long time (more than 9 months in parts of the world, like central Florida), but eventually they wake up and rise from their icy sheets deep down in dark caves and slowly hove out into the outdoors to cool the atmosphere and bring us the cold temperatures of winter. When they fed enough on the sun (which is strong in Florida, that is why winter is so short), they go back asleep for the rest of the year. This picture is the first ever taken of the awakening of the winter fairies. One could wish this story was true, but this picture actually is a microscope image of a material that changes the direction of light as it crystallizes, which is why when you look at it trough a mask that should stop the light coming though the sample, the area outside the material is black, but the material itself still shines light.