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 ...
As was I!
Yes, that wass me!
Good morning. I hope you slept well.
The Other Folks kept meeting up with traffic accidents on the way to their destination, so when they called around 8:00 PM, they were still two hours from where they wanted to be.
No news is good news, having not heard from them since, so I’m thinking they made it OK.
Meanwhile, its 44° out and 68° in here and I’m freezing. I’ve been freezing since I got here, but it is what it is.
I actually slept in on a Monday morning! :o]
Good morning. Happy Monday. Watch out for Kitteh, Monday, it won’t take your guff.
A brand new page for a brand new week. I hope all is well. We got some serious rain over the weekend and 43 fs for walking the dog this morning. I guess fall has asserted itself.
Good Monday morning!
The fs are Alt0176, if you’re interested!
It’s still beautiful and green here, but I miss the mesas and Pine Mountain. I probably always will. Today’s high is forecast at 73°. *shiver*
My computer has been restarting for over half an hour. This is not good.
It depends on which update you downloaded. My F-I-L had a long one like that - over 40 minutes IIRC - then it finished.
RAR!
Skeery kitteh.
How are you today?
Mine is just slow to load... WAY worse than in Hurricane.
It’s back, but now I’ll be anxious for days!
I’m the same way. I changed over to the big laptop because I couldn’t access some accounts. I didn’t realize how much slower this one was until I had used the little one for a while.
Now I’m wondering if this one is ready to bite the dust. It’s the best one I’ve had for a long time.
Not very how.
Oh, that’s too bad. Are you very where or what?
We have been to the library. It’s sunny outside.
I know I’ll be warm again, one of these days...
I would have to say I’m mostly when? And don’t even try for why.
It’s in the 70s here.
It’s 69° here, but the house hasn’t warmed up, even though I re-set the thermostat.
I called the housing office, but could only leave a message, so I may be calling again tomorrow.
Nothing from the Other Folks since earlier this morning, when I was given the hotel name and room number, JIC.
Except for the surrounding walls, life is what I left. Well, except for the boxes, too... ;o]
And I want a nap. I know what that means, and I’m not happy about it.
I suggest you should take a nap. Get the rest you can while you can!
I can’t nap. Not until after I get moved in. If I start to nap now, I’ll be too exhausted to do the things that need to be done, like shop for furniture things.
Naps can be done once the paperwork has been signed, but not now. I’ve been through this, and it isn’t going to be better. But thanks.
Like I said — it’s an insidious disease.
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