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 would have snagged the 00 if my kids hadn’t called!
I was writing the last post when the phone rang. I was SO close to finishing the sentence and hitting send!
That’s very nice. The Tabernacle Choir is an inspirational institution, especially for those of us in the choir business.
The last three Conferences, the Choir has been there, but it’s been tapes of previous sessions, and though it’s always uplifting, it just wasn’t the same!
And yes, I love choirs! ;o]
Recordings are totally not the same. I’m glad they’re doing new performances.
Jake says he’s interested in naptime, so I may catch you later!
Enjoy your nap with Jake! I’ll be here for a while, as there is still one session of the Conference left (five, total) and I won’t go to bed until it’s done.
Jake and I had a nice nap. Now, we’re thinking of sitting out in the yard reading a book.
Reading a book in the back yard sounds very relaxing and perfect for a Sunday afternoon. Does Jake read well? (No doubt interspersed with purrs and slobbers...)
Front yard. Jake decided to go back to bed, but Shannon came out of the shrubbery to sit with me a couple of times.
Conference is over for the next six months, and it was very interesting, informative and uplifting!
So now, I’m taking my tired self to bed where I’ll spend some time with Scriptures and then fall asleep. Hopefully, quickly! Tomorrow is laundry day...my last one here. :o]
So I’ll see you in the morning. I hope you have a good night!
OK, so I can’t read when I’m tired. Can’t spel eether.
Shannon acts like a non-needy cat.
Shannon allows us to live with her.
I hope you have a great night!
Lol! You’re the only person I know who can make her gorgeous family sound scary.
Thank you. Sometimes we need to sound scary in order to intimidate the indifferent universe.
Kitteh wants us to contact her staff and stop disturbing her with mundane things, like a Monday morning.
Good morning. Did you sleep well?
I just got back from the laundry room and got the bed made and will hang up the laundry in a bit. I took another white trash bag full of stuff to donate over with me, as there is always someone that can use something.
Now I have to decide what I’m going to do today, but I think it’s going to be the suitcase/toiletries chore. FS and his wife called between Conference sessions, and we’re just winding up the details.
I think I’m beginning to get excited, but as I told them, it probably really won’t hit me until I see the Tracker going down the street without me behind the wheel!
Not bad, thanks. Jake was out. I need to go to bed earlier!
How about you?
I thought I slept well, but my phone says it wasn’t as good as it could be, but then, CFIDS, so. I’m tired, but then, CFIDS, and I’ll do what has to be done. I could feel a lot worse and then where would I be? Not able to finish up what has to be done!
So, I’ll get my backside up from here and go hang the clothes. I think I’ll clean the fridge today, too, since there’s really nothing in it.
Two things on the agenda for today and we’ll see what happens when I get back from Walmart tomorrow. That will probably be the day I mostly finish up.
Thanks, but maybe if I had a cat to sleep with, I’d sleep better. ;o]
*tagline*
It depends on the cat.
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