Posted on 06/11/2021 11:51:04 AM PDT by Red Badger
At 563 carats, the Star of India is the world’s largest gem-quality blue star sapphire, and is approximately 2 billion years old. (Image credit: D. Finnin/Copyright AMNH)
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What does the legendary Star of India — a 563-carat star sapphire the size of a golf ball — have in common with a 35-million-year-old petrified redwood slab; a massive cluster of sword-like crystals that looks like it came from "Game of Thrones;" and a 5-ton (4.5-metric ton) stone pillar that can "sing?"
You can see all of them, along with 5,000 other amazing stones, in the newly renovated Mignone Hall of Gems and Minerals at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City, which is reopening after a four-year closure on Saturday (June 12). There, one-of-a-kind precious gems appear alongside odd-looking rocks — some of which date to billions of years ago — that have been uniquely warped and twisted by extreme temperatures and pressures.
Individually and together, these objects tell a story of the diverse geologic processes that shape minerals on Earth's surface and deep inside our planet, beginning when the world was young and continuing to this day, museum representatives told Live Science.
Related: 13 mysterious and cursed gemstones
The Star of India, which formed about a billion years ago, was discovered in Sri Lanka in the 18th century. It is one of the best-known gems in the world, in part because it was famously and brazenly stolen from AMNH in 1964, along with several more of the museum's prized stones, by a pair of thieves named Jack "Murf the Surf" Murphy and Allan Kuhn, Smithsonian reported in 2014, on the heist's 50th anniversary. (The one-of-a-kind sapphire was recovered and went back on display in 1965).
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
I just sent your link.
And now, I’m on my way down the hall.
See ya tomorry!
And it’s done! Woo-hoo!
Seeya!
So glad you didn’t succumb to boredom!
How do you measure trees?
With a Biltmore stick, a diameter tape, a wedge prism, and other stuff.
Blimey!
I put a shirt on that just barely fit when I got it in Henderson, wore it six weeks ago and it fit nicely and put it on this morning and it’s baggy.
This is good, in a way, but I need to move so I can shop at thrift stores for skinny clothes!
Congratulations! I don’t know whether to badger myself about the extra 20 lbs., or just accept that I’m in a larger phase of existence for now.
Sweet little marmalades!!
Good morning, finally! LOL!
Nah. Don’t badger yourself about 20 pounds. It will come off again. All you’ll accomplish by the badgering is to depress yourself to where you eat more and the cycle will continue. Besides: You look younger! ;o]
That’s what I was thinking, too. And besides, I look younger!
And good morning. I’m just starting to feel awake. Good thing we don’t leave for church until noon.
Great minds!
And besides, you’ll not only look younger but feel younger as well!
Now it’s time for me to begin to commence to start to get ready for church. It’s a slow process, so I’ll check back several times between now and 0830. ;o]
I’d feel younger if I had a couple of days off “normal life.” I’m trying to chivvy the other party into take some personal time away somewhere, but if he won’t go, I might have to bite the bullet and ... go to Tom’s or something.
If it wasn’t so expensive, you could come and visit me! But then, it wouldn’t be much fun, with the BB SUV so weak and puny. But you sure would enjoy the scenery!!
Yes, that would be nice, but it’s such a long way there. Tom lives only seven minutes away ;-).
We will have a *really nice* vacation after your move! I have plenty of funding saved, even without getting into my super-double-secret run-away-to-Colombia stash!
That’s Colombia, the country, not Columbia, the city in South Carolina ;-).
Well, in your stashing for Colombia-the-country-not-the-city-n-South-Carolina, stash away some for me, and I’ll make sure my passport is up-to-date!
In the meantime, I am SO looking forward to your visit, because it’s only about 90 minutes, not quite as long as from your place to Vegas. I’ll make sure there are places to go and thrift shops to visit!
Once we have a time frame, we can decide on the best activities and destinations.
If you would give me some suggestions about what you want to see or do I can check them out. A long list is better in case some aren’t available.
As for the length of your stay, you can discuss that with Jake.
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