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 ...
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A potential Undead Thread.
I don’t especially want to see a story about poop every day.
Jake really wants to go out this morning. It almost seems like the injury is healing on its own. If he didn’t need vaccinations, we might skip the vet trip.
Another sweet marmalade! Thanks!
Good morning. Did you sleep well?
I’m not sure what today will bring, but I have some calls to make, and then I can try to make myself invisible. At least for a portion of the day.
Nah. I’m with T-c on that one. But you’re right, it’s time to move again. I’ve already been looking, but so far, nothing. Not even close.
Good morning. Not bad, and I hope you are the same. I let Jake go outside. He was so determined!
Mumble mumble mumble Happyble Mondayble!
32 degrees and clear yesterday. 46 degrees and raining today.
Yep, it’s fall.
It could be worse. It could be a story about Democrats every morning.
True, although there are stories about Democrats every morning one way or another.
I made an appointment for Jake this afternoon.
Dat twoo. But we don’t have to look at them here.
I would say that given a choice between 1) poop, 2) impending destruction of all life on earth and 3) Democrats I would put Democrats at the bottom of the list.
I have to leave for about an hour, but I’ll be back.
Good luck!
Thanks! It wasn’t as long as I thought it would be!
And it was somewhat painless.
I informed PW this morning that the reason I shut off the lights that were in my face and pulled the shade half-way was because of the light sensitivity I experience. Hmmm...imagine that: she looked pained.
I was supposed to call someone this morning, and I can’t recall who it was, now. My bad.
I’ll take the middle thing.
That's more H2O than all year before that.
5¼” now.
I left barefoot tracks in the snow putting out the dog food.
Bell had to be cleared of crud to ring.
Fun!
We’ve had all sorts of rain.
But then, we have to put up with living in New York to get it.
!
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