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Re: Astronomers discover "Diamond" planet
Astronomers discover planet made of diamond
by Ben Hirschler / Reuters
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."
(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Sophie Hares)
Re: Astronomers discover "Diamond" planet
IF there are advanced civilizations in the vicinity of this planet, I guarantee there's a war going on for these diamonds.
I'd love to know if they use borrowed money on the back of runaway deficits to fund the war....
Who says diamonds are culturally attractive on other planets? 
Re: Astronomers discover "Diamond" planet
James Lofton wrote:IF there are advanced civilizations in the vicinity of this planet, I guarantee there's a war going on for these diamonds.
I'd love to know if they use borrowed money on the back of runaway deficits to fund the war....
Who says diamonds are culturally attractive on other planets?
Good point but I'm sure diamonds are used in some capacity if we are not alone in the universe. For life to 'reach for the stars' so to speak, resources are required to do so. I don't care if the aliens look like us or something we cant comprehend. Technology is required for flight and other things and you cant move up the tech ladder without resources(oil, iron,etc.).
There may come a point where we don't need those things and use nothing but solar power and air for our needs, but no one can start at that point.
Re: Astronomers discover "Diamond" planet
James Lofton wrote:IF there are advanced civilizations in the vicinity of this planet, I guarantee there's a war going on for these diamonds.
I'd love to know if they use borrowed money on the back of runaway deficits to fund the war....
Who says diamonds are culturally attractive on other planets?
I somewhat agree. Carbon planets were hypothesized to exist before we discovered this one. The fact that this one exists most likely indicates that there are millions of diamond planets in the universe.
For all we know life could have formed on one of these carbon planets. And if your whole world is a diamond, I'm guessing it's probably not considered very valuable 
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