Sunstone Unearthed From Sixteenth Century Shipwreck

sciencehabit writes "In 1592, a British ship sank near the island of Alderney in the English Channel carrying an odd piece of cargo: a small, angular crystal. Once it was brought back to land, a few European scientists began to suspect the mysterious object might be a calcite crystal, a powerful 'sunstone' referred to in Norse legends which they believe Vikings and other European seafarers used to navigate before the introduction of the magnetic compass. Now, after subjecting the object to a battery of mechanical and chemical tests, the team has determined that the Alderman crystal is indeed a calcite and, therefore, could have been the ship's optical compass. Today, similar calcite crystals are used by astronomers to analyze the atmospheres of exoplanets—perhaps setting the stage for a whole new age of exploration."

In a perfect world

[binarylarry]

I hope when it was unearthed the finder said something like "By Odin's Beard! Tis the SUNSTONE that was foretold in the prophecy!"

At least that's what I would have done. 3

Re:In a perfect world

[robthebloke]

... and yet everyone else would hear that as:
Blurgh, Blurgh. Blurgh, blurgh... Bubble, bubble, bubble.... shhhhhheeeeeerssshk... Blurgh, blurgh. Blurgh, blurgh.... Bubble bubble bubble

AWRIGHT A SUNSTONE!

[GameboyRMH]

Now I can get my Sunkern to evolve!

Re:Iceland Spar

[ScentCone]

also known as iolite

Which, as a man of world, you must know is the source of iocane powder. And because iocane comes from Australia, and Australia is entirely peopled with criminals, and criminals would try to fool wandering Vikings into thinking they could navigate with an iolite stone, we know we cannot trust this story they've put in front of us.

Re:Unearthed?

[egcagrac0]

According to the many image-macros circulating, one cannot unsea.

Re:In a perfect world

[lxs]

The second sentence should begin with a capital 'Thorn' but some reason the /. posting system does not like that symbol and zaps it.

You have unearthed the fabled "ASCII only website" a beast of legend! It is said that ancient people communicated this way long before Unicode was invented.

Re:lost knowledge?

[Anonymous Coward]

Vikings have a reputation for being "evil" because they luted,raped and pillaged large areas of the British Isles.

Thanks you for making my day there :) Luting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lute) should indeed be considered evil!

Re:Prime example of scientific tunnel-vision?

[Grizzley9]

By Odin's Beard! An Anonymous Coward post at Score:5, Informative!