Astronomers discover planet made of diamond

By Ben Hirschler

LONDON (Reuters) - Astronomers have spotted an exotic planet that seems to be made of diamond racing around a tiny star in our galactic backyard.

The new planet is far denser than any other known so far and consists largely of carbon. Because it is so dense, scientists calculate the carbon must be crystalline, so a large part of this strange world will effectively be diamond.

"The evolutionary history and amazing density of the planet all suggest it is comprised of carbon -- i.e. a massive diamond orbiting a neutron star every two hours in an orbit so tight it would fit inside our own Sun," said Matthew Bailes of Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne.

Lying 4,000 light years away, or around an eighth of the way toward the center of the Milky Way from the Earth, the planet is probably the remnant of a once-massive star that has lost its outer layers to the so-called pulsar star it orbits.

Pulsars are tiny, dead neutron stars that are only around 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) in diameter and spin hundreds of times a second, emitting beams of radiation.

In the case of pulsar J1719-1438, the beams regularly sweep the Earth and have been monitored by telescopes in Australia, Britain and Hawaii, allowing astronomers to detect modulations due to the gravitational pull of its unseen companion planet.

The measurements suggest the planet, which orbits its star every two hours and 10 minutes, has slightly more mass than Jupiter but is 20 times as dense, Bailes and colleagues reported in the journal Science on Thursday.

In addition to carbon, the new planet is also likely to contain oxygen, which may be more prevalent at the surface and is probably increasingly rare toward the carbon-rich center.

Its high density suggests the lighter elements of hydrogen and helium, which are the main constituents of gas giants like Jupiter, are not present.

Just what this weird diamond world is actually like close up, however, is a mystery.

"In terms of what it would look like, I don't know I could even speculate," said Ben Stappers of the University of Manchester. "I don't imagine that a picture of a very shiny object is what we're looking at here."

http://news.yahoo.com/astronomers-discover-planet-made-diamond-180427124.html

MINES!!!!!

I volunteer my services to be on the expedition team that goes to explore this new diamond planet.

that pic is a graphic/rendition, sorry guys...

I love the news about all the new planets they're discovering lately. Very cool.

Efan said:

I love the news about all the new planets they're discovering lately. Very cool.

agree! our technology finally enables us to do more than just guess about what's out there....

Efan said:

I love the news about all the new planets they're discovering lately. Very cool.

ZombieKitten said:

MINES!!!!!

Cerebus said:

Astronomers discover planet made of diamond

By Ben Hirschler

LONDON (Reuters) - Astronomers have spotted an exotic planet that seems to be made of diamond racing around a tiny star in our galactic backyard.

The new planet is far denser than any other known so far and consists largely of carbon. Because it is so dense, scientists calculate the carbon must be crystalline, so a large part of this strange world will effectively be diamond.

"The evolutionary history and amazing density of the planet all suggest it is comprised of carbon -- i.e. a massive diamond orbiting a neutron star every two hours in an orbit so tight it would fit inside our own Sun," said Matthew Bailes of Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne.

Lying 4,000 light years away, or around an eighth of the way toward the center of the Milky Way from the Earth, the planet is probably the remnant of a once-massive star that has lost its outer layers to the so-called pulsar star it orbits.

Pulsars are tiny, dead neutron stars that are only around 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) in diameter and spin hundreds of times a second, emitting beams of radiation.

In the case of pulsar J1719-1438, the beams regularly sweep the Earth and have been monitored by telescopes in Australia, Britain and Hawaii, allowing astronomers to detect modulations due to the gravitational pull of its unseen companion planet.

The measurements suggest the planet, which orbits its star every two hours and 10 minutes, has slightly more mass than Jupiter but is 20 times as dense, Bailes and colleagues reported in the journal Science on Thursday.

In addition to carbon, the new planet is also likely to contain oxygen, which may be more prevalent at the surface and is probably increasingly rare toward the carbon-rich center.

Its high density suggests the lighter elements of hydrogen and helium, which are the main constituents of gas giants like Jupiter, are not present.

Just what this weird diamond world is actually like close up, however, is a mystery.

"In terms of what it would look like, I don't know I could even speculate," said Ben Stappers of the University of Manchester. "I don't imagine that a picture of a very shiny object is what we're looking at here."

http://news.yahoo.com/astronomers-discover-planet-made-diamond-180427124.html

The Crystalline Entity!

connorhawke said:

ZombieKitten said:

MINES!!!!!

Does this mean the prices of jewelry will go down the toilet?

novabrkr said:

Does this mean the prices of jewelry will go down the toilet?

It's an "artificial" price 2 begin with.

JoeTyler said:

that pic is a graphic/rendition, sorry guy

Uhhhh.... and?

Genesia said:

The Crystalline Entity!

I was pretty sure something like that would be beyond your geek threshold. *snif* Cerebus is all, like, happy n' stuff.

Cerebus said:

Genesia said:

The Crystalline Entity!

I was pretty sure something like that would be beyond your geek threshold. *snif* Cerebus is all, like, happy n' stuff.

Yeah, well...you've never seen any of the texts I've sent to Toni - in Tamarian. Zinda, his face black, his eyes red.

I was just reading about a similar theory in 2010 & 2061 about Jupiter's core being made of a huge diamond, and that Arthur C Clarke got that idea from a scientific journal.

In the future, diamonds are used as building materials as well as to preserve historical buildings with a microscopic layer

Genesia said:

Cerebus said:

I was pretty sure something like that would be beyond your geek threshold. *snif* Cerebus is all, like, happy n' stuff.

Yeah, well...you've never seen any of the texts I've sent to Toni - in Tamarian. Zinda, his face black, his eyes red.

Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra.

You can look but you will never touch.

Cerebus said:

Genesia said:

Yeah, well...you've never seen any of the texts I've sent to Toni - in Tamarian. Zinda, his face black, his eyes red.

Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra.

The river Temarc in winter.

Genesia said:

Cerebus said:

Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra.

The river Temarc in winter.

Shaka, when the walls fell!

HotGritz said:

That's where rapper Trina's from.

isnt diamond the hardest thing to break?or something like that..i wasnt really paying attention in Geology class.

[Edited 8/26/11 13:16pm]