Created in an instant out of water vapour, and vanishes just as suddenly, its pattern never to be repeated.

These amazing images were taken, using a special microscope, by physics Professor Kenneth Libbrecht, who has spent the past 11 years on a personal quest to record the beautiful world of snowflakes.

Prof Libbrecht, of the California Institute of Technology, says that the most ‘basic’ snowflake pattern is the hexagonal prism – a six-sided block with little detail.