Planet made of Diamond Found:
The new planet is said to be denser than any other planet that consists largely of carbon. Because it is so dense scientists think carbon must be crystalline that is so a large part of this strange world will effectively be diamond.The history and amazing density of the planet it suggest that it is a massive diamond orbiting a neutron star every two hours in an orbit so tight it would fit inside our own Sun. It is lying 4000 light years away from earth. The planet is probably the part 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."The measurements suggest the planet, which orbits its star every two hours and a couple 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.Just what this weird diamond world is actually like close up, however, is a mystery.
The new planet is said to be denser than any other planet that consists largely of carbon. Because it is so dense scientists think carbon must be crystalline that is so a large part of this strange world will effectively be diamond.The history and amazing density of the planet it suggest that it is a massive diamond orbiting a neutron star every two hours in an orbit so tight it would fit inside our own Sun. It is lying 4000 light years away from earth. The planet is probably the part 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."The measurements suggest the planet, which orbits its star every two hours and a couple 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.Just what this weird diamond world is actually like close up, however, is a mystery. 