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 ...
You’re welcome.
I really tried to stay up and wait, because I know you like a nap after Mass, but I was selfish and went to bed.
My DiL seems genuinely excited to have me live there. What a surprise from the way she was when she first married my son!
Good morning. I hope it turns out well! At least you’ll be in a rehabbed apartment!
What a sweet floof!
Good morning.
I hope you slept well, and that things will soon be back to normal, after your vacation. I hope it allowed you to rest a bit. For a change.
The laundry is done (except for hanging to dry, of course) but that will happen soon.
The wind has been blowing like crazy, and the wind chimes are really singing. I will have to hang them by a window, because there is only one door, and I don’t like the way the entrance is set up. But it is what it is.
And yes, they are all cleaned, painted and repaired between tenants. Including cleaning the carpet in the bedroom.
Good morning. Happy Monday. It was 46 when I walked the pup this morning. So we’re back to fall-ish.
Happy Monday! Did pup like the nip in the air?
It’s 60° here, and I still don’t like the cold. Especially since all my winter clothes are packed. I won’t unpack them until I get to Dogpatch.
The wind is also blowing, which makes it worse. I guess I’ll have to start wearing my hoodies.
It’s warm here. We’re supposed to get cooler evenings during the weekend’s campout.
Jake must have come in when Pat got home from work, midnight-ish, because he turned up on my pillow in an Emotional State.
The pup seems to not really notice. She had a good walk and enjoyed her breakfast.
72 with a chance of rain here this AM. Was supposed to hit 77 yesterday, hit 88... Actually turned the AC back on...
Windy? Have kite, will travel...
Today should be the last hot and somewhat humid day for the foreseeable future... cold front rolling in tomorrow to dry things out and cool it down...
Off to see if I can get a seal that I need to fix the back hoe...
I wish I had a back hoe and a cold front.
I’d take a front hoe and a cold back. Life gets a little too predictable around here.
Poor Jake! I wonder what had him going? Maybe an owl tried to make a meal of him.
It’s chillier now than it was when I went over to wash clothes at 0310.
The clothes are drying and the bed is made; half the trash is in the dumpster while the other bag is being filled.
I may or may not go to the library today. I’m actually quite tired, but I’ll try to get another box or two packed up before anything else gets put on the agenda. I was going to go wash the bedcover, but I just couldn’t force myself.
And Favorite Daughter and The Guy have gone to Vegas to visit his brother. I don’t ever want to go back to that city! Not even to change planes!
I hope the daughter and That Guy have a successful trip there and back. I’m not interested in visiting Las Vegas, myself.
It’s cloudy here and looking like it might rain, but it doesn’t rain. We could use a little rain.
Kathleen has Cub Scouts this evening, and Vlad plans to come along and visit Your Local Game Store, which is near the Presbyterian Church. He could even drive, since Pat isn’t working tonight.
Well, they made it safely, indicated by two photos of the Strip, but as I said, before I even left there, I won’t go back. It’s a filthy city and the state is run by a control freak leftist, and it is NOT the same place I moved to when I left CA, way back all those years ago. But don’t get me started.
The sun is finally out, but the day is still cold. The Lawn Guy is here, but I don’t hear him doing much, so maybe it’s just a year-end thing he’s doing and next visit will be more enthusiastic. Regardless, I put the windshield cover on.
Maybe tomorrow, I’ll go see Casey and find out if he’s still interested in buying the BB SUV. If not, I’ll call the other guy, and if not him, then that leaves Brian. And if he doesn’t have cash in hand, he’s not getting it. I’ll see if Casey can sell it for me.
I hope Vlad is a better driver than some of the other teenbros have been! ;o]
He’s doing okay. We haven’t died. James is going to drive us to Walmart, and someone can drive to the vet’s office when Shannon’s pills are ready.
I’m looking forward to naptime.
I would be looking forward to naptime, too, but I haven’t had naps as a regular thing for several years, now.
There is the thing to look forward to where all the kids have their driver’s licenses and you can pat yourself on the back and say, “Well done, you!”
And you did it yourself (for the most part!)
That was scary, combination of James’s lack of coordination and other people’s driving like dopes. I’m going to bed with Jake.
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