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 ...
I was toasting my sciatica with an electric blanket and got so sleepy I had to go to bed for a while. I might still be there, but you can count on my kids to yell at one another.
How strange is that? Not owrking on Christmas Eve day? Hmpf. Go figger.
I’m glad for you!
Yes, I’m familiar with the bickering of children. Even tall children who have better things to do.
I’m sorry about your sciatica. I hate when I get it because it almost paralyzes me. I hope you feel a little better by the end of the day!
It’s not as bad as it was last week, so I’ll call it a win.
LOL!
Cats be like that!!
Some days are better than others, right?
I just went to Sonic with PW. I have no idea why she’s being so nice to me. Oh. Wait. There is a car in her front yard which means she can finally rid herself of excess baggage soon. Yeah. That’s the ticket!
I love it!
Had a friend whose ex-wife had three cats. In months when the alimony check was particularly onerous he would call her in the early morning hours to leave a message on the machine...just the sound of an electric can opener, no words, just that sound til the machine cut it off.
Subtle!
...and a two-fer, once in the wee hours and again on the playback...some frustrated cats losing faith in the human.
LOL!
I meant to tell you! I got a card from Charie today. It had a Christmas tree on it and Charlie had painstakingly removed a frog from two of the envelopes I had sent him and taped them to the Christmas tree.
He said they didn’t willingly go.
Also, FS finally came and got me so we could go to O’Reilly’s and get the first part for the car. He seems excited about working on it. That’s good news!
I found Inspector Morse on Roku. I tried to watch it on DVD from the library, but there was no subtitling, and the sound quality was bad, so I couldn’t make heads or tails of the first episode.
Now, of course, I find it to be an excellent series with superb British writing.
FS tagged me with this tonight:
And gloriosky, there IS a “Dogpatch!”
Original, but too big for the two of us. We’ll find something smaller.
I don’t think he was thinking about your visit so much as he wanted to show me some places to go see on his mini-vacation time. I don’t like caves, so it wouldn’t be a place I’d want to see, anyway.
I understand. Seeing caves is different from staying in them!
I’d never be a very Hobbit, I think!
Very good* Hobbit.
Must be bedtime!
See ya tomorrow!
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