Astrophyllite is a unique and rare formation of titanium silicate. Its name comes from a Greek word meaning “star leaf” because that is what the formation looks like – a leaf or a star! When it is embedded in another stone, you can clearly see the radiating starburst pattern caused by “spears” of the mineral radiating out from a single point.
Astrophyllite is golden-brown or bronze-coloured, and there may be slight variations in the colouration depending on the exact makeup of the metal (when I said it was titanium silicate, I was simplifying a bit). Most Astrophyllite is found in Russia, and there have also been some deposits discovered in Norway and the United States.