Starry Night Jasper Identification Guide

What Starry Night Jasper Looks Like

Starry night jasper is a trade name for an opaque, dark jasper (microcrystalline silica, SiO2, colored by iron and other oxides) whose deep blue-black to dark green base is dusted with pale or golden speckles that resemble stars in a night sky. The body is fully opaque with a dull to waxy luster on rough surfaces and a glassy polish when finished. The "stars" are tiny lighter mineral inclusions or fine flecks scattered through the dense silica matrix.

Step-by-Step Field ID

1. Check opacity. Jasper is opaque even on thin edges; no light passes through, unlike chalcedony or agate.
2. Look at the pattern. A dark ground (blue-black, charcoal, green) sprinkled with small light or metallic-looking speckles.
3. Test hardness. It scratches glass and a steel knife (Mohs 6.5-7).
4. Streak it. A jasper streak is white to pale, even when the stone is dark.
5. Feel the weight and fracture. Dense, with a smooth conchoidal break.

Key Diagnostic Tests

• Mohs hardness: 6.5-7, scratches glass and steel.
• Streak: white to pale (iron-rich zones may give a faint brownish streak).
• Fracture: conchoidal to splintery, no cleavage.
• Specific gravity: ~2.6.
• Acid: no reaction.
• Magnetism: generally none (distinguishes from iron-rich magnetic rocks).

Common Look-Alikes

• Snowflake/starry obsidian: obsidian is volcanic glass, softer (Mohs 5-5.5), often with a brighter glassy luster and conchoidal break; its spots are gray cristobalite spherulites, and it can show translucency on thin edges. Jasper is harder and fully opaque.
• Speckled granite/diorite: these are coarse-grained igneous rocks with visible interlocking crystals (quartz, feldspar, mica), not a homogeneous silica matrix; granite is grainier and shows cleavage flashes from feldspar.
• Goldstone or aventurine glass: man-made or quartzite with sparkly flecks; goldstone is glass (bubbles, softer) and aventurine is translucent quartzite.
• Other dark jaspers (e.g., kambaba): distinguished by pattern; starry night shows discrete star-like speckles rather than orbs or stromatolite rings.

Where It Is Found

Jasper forms where silica-rich fluids cement or replace fine sediments and volcanic ash; commercial starry night material is sourced from jasper deposits in regions such as Madagascar, Africa, and the western United States.