My beautiful, beautiful niece Lucy, someone whom I loved and admired very much. Lucy was an archaeologist, she was kind to animals, she had a great sense of humour, she was wonderful with children…and now she’s gone, taken away from all those who loved her by the scourge of cancer.
For far longer than I care to think of, Lucy displayed a degree of bravery that I find hard to grasp, and I will miss her terribly.
May 5th, 1979 – November 23rd 2009.
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Words fail me in a such a terrible waste of a beautiful young life. I am so sorry Dennis. How awful for all her family.
Thank you, Angie. I should point out that I honestly don’t expect anyone to write in on this one, but I didn’t want to say as much in the post, because I just wanted to keep it simple and I wanted to say my piece about Lucy. Thank you again anyway, though – it’s very kind of you.
I am truly saddened by the loss of your Niece and send my deepest sympathies to you and your family. Given her chosen profession I am sure that there are words I could say, but for the moment I am at a loss for what they are. If you need to talk you will always have my ear.
As it happens, Lucy had the good sense to leave archaeology to spend even more time in the great outdoors, yet another reason I admired her as much as I did. Thank you for the kind words and for the offer, though.
My thoughts are with your family Dennis. The loss of someone so young is hard to come to terms with, no matter how distant the event.
It’s very kind of you to write in, Neil, so thank you for this.
Thinking of you all, much love,
Jas
That’s very kind and thoughtful – thank you
The injustice of a young life taken so randomly makes me angry. I certainly do not have the words to make this any better. My hope is that in a universe we do not, and perhaps can never, understand there must be a reason which time distorts. It is illogical to place limits on God.
Everyone down here, of different faiths or of no faith, is angry, as well as being intensely sad. I’m not the first person to say this about someone who’s died and I most certainly won’t be the last, but Lucy was just such a lovely girl in so many ways and it’s beyond comprehension why she’s gone. Thank you, though, for writing in – it is kind of you.
Her sweet nature comes shining through in this happy party scene.
Bless her, and deepest sympathy again to all her family.
LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS
Deep in the Constellation of Centarus lies a star just 50 light years away from the earth that is so intriguing, that astronomers nicknamed it “Lucy”. Lucy, also known as V886 Centuri and BPM 37093, is a white dwarf star. A white dwarf is the hot cinder left behind when a star uses up its nuclear fuel and dies. It is made mostly of carbon and oxygen and surrounded by a thin layer of hydrogen and helium gases. In 1992 it was found that Lucy pulsates due to its core temperature dropping below 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit and in 1995 scientists decided to use Lucy for an experiment to see what she was made out of.
This experiment was to use the pulsation of the star and see if the crystallization theory was true. The process that was used is called Asteroseismology or Stellar Seismology which uses their frequency spectra to determine what the composition of the star is. The same way that geologists study the interior of the Earth during earthquakes.
Scientists had found that approximately 90% of Lucy’s mass had crystallized and since Lucy interior core is mostly made of Carbon, it can only mean one thing. LUCY BECAME THE BIGGEST DIAMOND FOUND! At 10 billion trillion trillion carats, not only is this diamond forever but it squashes the last diamond to hold the record, Golden Jubilee at 546 carats.
It is theorized that our Sun will one day go through the same phase. After it looses its outer shell and becomes a white dwarf, it too will crystallize and live out it’s end of days in spectacular form, enjoying it’s own Diamond Jubilee.
My thanks to Julio E of The Universe Facebook group for this wonderful and uplifting piece.
How amazingly synchronous! I was led here to read about this incredible “diamond” just a few days ago.