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 ...
Good Morning All,
Will read thread in a bit.
Hope all is well in your worlds. :)
Good morning. We are all fine here and hope you are the same!
Feeling a little more human at the moment, thanks TC. :)
Have had a real life Midsomer event in our road !
The Police have had a nightmare controlling the amateur sleuths...*grin*.
It was full-on Midsomer Norton.
Just got to wait for the Coroner’s report before I can say anything here...rules...
That’s very exciting, although one is, of course, sorry something bad happened.
The sun is just coming up here. We’re getting out from under several days of much-needed rain.
“much-needed rain”
We’ve just finished with your last load of empties.
So in 7 to 10 days there will be another load of recycling coming our way. Righty-ho. :)
It sure has been a very different Summer this year to last.
Last year was a scorcher from April to October. This year...intermittent hot Sunshine between the clouds, when the freezing spring north wind finally stopped.
Haven’t done a Crop check yet this year ,but the wild flowers have been in top form. Event the building sites are a riot of flowers where things have slowed down due too a cough.
You’ve been rather scarce around these parts, Moosie, as well as in other regions, though I have seen your mother posting. I’m not there often, myself, just long enough to do some drive-by posting.
A real Midsomer Norton, eh? And we get all excited when someone falls off a toilet and gets a concussion...
It’s VERY good to see you!!
That is such a tiny floof!
Good morning.
Because of that stupid allergy medication (or should I say, “stupid me for taking it?”) I was actually afraid to go to sleep last night. Just in case, I set the alarm for two hours and when it rang I forced myself to get up and walk around. That bottle is going out! I’ll take it to the police station. I don’t ever want to feel like that again.
Now that I have my brain back, I may be able to get more packing done today. Maybe. It’s library day, so who knows?
I think I will have to take the teenbros for a small driving adventure today, before I lose my nerve. I’ll let you know before I go ...
The Midsomer event really could have been written by the same people. Being woken at 3am by the Police looking for information just added to the initially surreal nature of things. All individuals are known so no continuing mystery to contend with.
I know. I barely survived the last one.
The two stage process of obtaining the driving licence here I used to thing was an erosion of civil liberties, but with the current standard of diving in this country I’m no longer so sure.
I agree. All the hoops one must jump through for a license are a nuisance, especially the parts dealing with State employees, but I kind of like my survival, too.
Good morning, Moose. All is well in this world. I hope the same can be said in yours.
Good morning. Happy Humph Day!
I’m with kitteh. I’m not sure what to make of today, either.
Please do let us know beforehand. I thought they would be utilizing a driving school? I only had one to “teach,” and I can’t imagine what it’s like for you!
Even if only one went to the school it would help you!
Yes, Moosie, I know about that “connectedness.” I thought perhaps you might be on some clandestine mission for an unnamed entity in an undisclosed location, but I’m glad to know it was nothing more than common, ordinary, garden variety burn-out.
It will be wonderful to have you here more often! I’ve missed your humour. ;o]
This little village is so remote that the outside world isn’t aware that people actually LIVE here. It’s like those who run the shops on the main drive on their ways to Las Vegas or Zion’s Park don’t actually have homes here. They’re just part of the shop!
The reason the driving is so ugly there is because the people who move there from other countries believe that “traffic laws are only for Westerners.” That is from the late horse’s mouth, who spent 18 months in Saudi Arabia in the ‘70s.
Is it Hmpf Day already? Wow. Oh. That’s right. I wasn’t really here yesterday. My bad. I’ve lost a day.
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