this is a one billionth scale replica of the starship enterprise. it was built using a 30 kV Ga+ focused-ion-beam CVD using phenanthrene gas. i probably would have just used a dremel, i’m sure they have a bit for this exact kind of thing.

this model was one of the winners of the 2003 micrograph contest. the ship is only 8.8 microns long. that’s 346 millionths of an inch. to give you an idea of how big that is, the period at the end of this sentence is a little less than 400 microns wide. most viruses are somewhere around a tenth of a micron.

the good news is that if this ship decides to stop you, a surgical mask may be the only defense you need.

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