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 ...
We lost Shannon for a few hours, but Vlad found her. She was just wandering the neighborhood looking for a better deal.
Well, if you learned to skate at any time in your life, a wet, smooth sidewalk while wearing Crocs could provide a bit of fun. I roller skated while elementary school age, so in high school, when I had the chance to ice skate, I stepped onto the ice and took off, just like I had good sense! I was however, taken by surprise by the slick surface in my Croc-wannabes, and had a moment when my balance was about to fail.
It sounds like a nice day for riding!
Oh, blimey. Migraines do often show up during stressful days. I’m so sorry, ArGee. I hope you’re feeling better today.
Kitteh is reflecting not only on the vagaries of life, but my feelings about the day perfectly.
Good morning. I hope you slept well.
I need to take a shower and then write to Charlie, but I don’t feel like doing either one.
Tomorrow is the big day, eh? I’d love to go to the beach again. Maybe someday. My son says we’ll go to “the lake” but since AR has so many, I suppose it doesn’t really matter which one.
Today is my youngest grandson’s 20th birthday, so I have to remember to send him a text. Maybe, when I get to Dogpatch, he’ll be willing to spend some time with me. I hope.
Congratulations to the grandson!
Aside from the cat on the pillow, I slept pretty well. I hope you’re doing okay, too.
We have a field trip to a farm this morning to learn more about soil. Good thing it’s not too far away, less than 30 minutes, because the teenbros are moving very slowly.
So Jake doesn’t want to share pillows? He just wants to share yours with you. It’s a guy-cat thing.
Soil is interesting!!
Soil is very interesting, and so is farming, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be really hot this morning, which is nice.
Good morning. Happy Friday!
Relax, you gotz dis.
Catz relaxd.
Since I grew up in farm/ranch/orchard country, I have to say, I love anything connected to earth and farming.
Now, since I’ve had my shower and left a birthday message for Sam on Facebook, I need to get started on my letter to Charlie.
I’m going to do some laundry, cut up more apples, and get my boots on.
And you probably got done before I did! LOL!
We’re back. The farm was really fun.
“Aside from the cat on the pillow...”
At night, our 26lb dark-chocolate-on-black tabby would sometimes curl up on my pillow by my head purring, wash his face and paws, smooth down my hair by my ear, then snuggle up against my head and go to sleep.
Honestly, I’ve seldom slept better.
Farms usually are really fun until one inadvertently steps in fertilizer!
I’ve been smelling cigarette smoke all morning, so I’m not a happy person. Just using lots of Air-Wick spray!
It can’t decide whether to be cloudy or sunny, but it’s still hot.
I like to be able to turn over. I shudder to think of a cat half-again Jake’s size on my pillow.
I grew up with a woods on one side of the neighborhood, an orange grove on the other, and a very small lake at the end. I loved climbing trees and chasing reptiles. Oh, and swimming. I mean, we lived in Florida so swimming wasn’t a choice.
Oranges? Never really got into the oranges.
There were no animals, just crops. The owner said they’d raised hogs until about 15 years ago, when development in the area made the smell a problem.
Tom says a hawk just pursued a songbird into the Carters’ juniper hedge and lost it. It made Jake nervous. Tom is going to sit out with him so he can roll over on the cement without being scared.
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