My location makes it perfect to do both.
For astronomy: Mauna Kea has several observatories, as it in the ideal location for observing space. The middle of the ocean, barely any light around, one of the highest mountains in the world.
For geology: Kilauea is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. It would be lovely if I could do some sort of field work at the national park or with geologists.
I have to figure this out. There is an engineering internship in Oahu I am considering, so we’ll have to see if that’ll work :D
19th February 2012
Notes: 3
Opal facts:
- The word opal is adapted from the Roman term opalus.
- It is suggested it was adapted it from Ops, the wife of Saturn and goddess of fertility. The portion of Saturnalia devoted to Ops was “Opalia”, similar to opalus.
- Opal is a form of silica related to quartz, not a mineral
- Opal’s internal structure makes it diffract light; depending on the conditions in which it formed it can take on many colors. Opal ranges from clear through white, gray, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, magenta, rose, pink, slate, olive, brown, and black. Of these hues, the reds against black are the most rare, whereas white and greens are the most common
- The lattice of spheres of opal that cause the interference with light are several hundred times larger than the fundamental structure of crystalline silica. As a mineraloid, there is no unit cell that describes the structure of opal.
- In the Middle Ages, opal was considered a stone that could provide great luck because it was believed to possess all the virtues of each gemstone whose color was represented in the color spectrum of the opal
- Birthstone for the zodiac sign libra.
Curving sands in Iran’s salt desert, Dasht-e Kavir. Summer evaporation in the desert leaves behind a high concentration of minerals, making Iran one of the world’s most important mineral producers
Reblogged From abluegirl
Rhodochrosite (by anthonyfalla)
quartz crystals in polarized light, shot through a gypsum filter to shift the wavelengths down the Michel-Levy color chart.
Geologists say Fifty million to 200 million years from now Earth’s continents will smash into each other, forming one huge continent. There are several possibilities including that the Atlantic Ocean will close up, reversing the trend that broke apart the last supercontinent … or that the current spreading zone in the Atlantic will push the continents 180 degrees around the world to close up the Pacific instead.
Read article here
One of the most enjoyable parts of studying geology is looking the rocks under the polarizing light microscope. More than minerals, when I am stared at the microscope I see a world full of colors and possibilities.
This rock is a dunite, an igneous rock rarely found in the continent, but one of the majors constituents of Earth’s mantle.
