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 ...
w00t!
Which, by the way, is ex-ACT-ly how I felt when I turned 60.
NOT!!!!!
W00t!
Good job!
Here in NY, in my local area, it would be a: patchouli, weed, BO, and “essential oils” aroma.
Eeew. Around here, it’s unwashed Cub Scouts.
Day 4 complete. An interesting array of things were made with glue, paper plates, balloons, and tissue paper.
Sometimes a kid would say, “This looks boring!” and I would say, “Then go over there and sit around. My job is to explain the craft and help you if you need help, not to make you do it.”
I also told one kid to stop moaning, because it’s lower class.
*Wiping feet* Thank you, Red Badger, for our new home.
Vlad was attacked by little girl Cub Scouts. He’s okay. I’m not sure about the other youth staff boy from Ecology.
Life is so weird.
Kitteh sez, “I not coming out! Is FRIday!”
Good morning.
I don’t know what I did to make me so tired, but I fell back asleep after the alarm rang.
Now, I have to hurry and take my shower so I can write to Charlie before the day is too far gone.
I don’t think any packing will be done today. I did some yesterday and Wednesday, so I’ll just sit on it today. I’ll have to have Chuck like a box for me when he comes to fix the light switch. (I need to find the breaker box!)
Good morning. Happy Friday.
There's a new Sherriff in town!..............
Did you lose it somewhere?.......................
Morning. It’s all chirpy birds at the archery range, but soon it will be campers.
Happy Friday at last! ;o]
I love that movie so much I had to buy it before it was censored out of existence!
:o])
I could not find the breaker box. Not in the closets, anywhere. Outside, maybe? I dunno...
Chuck can find it when he gets here!
It’s chirpy birds here, too. Another hot day for us and for at least the next 10 days, we’ll be above the 100° mark, some days even as high as 112°.
When I went to pick up the mail yesterday, I just stood still in the sun for a few minutes, soaking up the heat.
Hidden behind a picture frame?
There is the main breaker at the meter and the inside breaker is usually located near that entry point..............
The meter is outside. That’s the only thing I could find. I’ve usually found the breaker boxes in clothes closets or water heater closets, but there is no breaker in any of the closets.
All the pictures are down and packed, so no, not hidden behind a picture frame. Chuck knows where it is, but I want to make sure he had a clean path to it, since I’m packing to move to AR “soon.”
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