Astronomers find a planet made of diamond

Forget the diamond as big as the Ritz - astronomers believe they have found one bigger than Earth.

Orbiting a star that is visible to the naked eye, astronomers have discovered a planet twice the size of our own made largely out of diamond.

The rocky planet, called 55 Cancri e, orbits a sun-like star in the constellation of Cancer and is moving so fast that a year there lasts a mere 18 hours.

Discovered by a US-Franco research team, its radius is twice that of Earth's but it is much more dense with a mass eight times greater.

It is also incredibly hot, with temperatures on its surface reaching 1,648 degrees Celsius.

"The surface of this planet is likely covered in graphite and diamond rather than water and granite," said Yale researcher Nikku Madhusudhan, whose findings are due to be published in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The study - with Olivier Mousis at the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie in Toulose, France - estimates that at least one-third of the planet's mass, the equivalent of about three Earth masses, could be diamond.

Astronomers find a planet made of diamond - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

That would take the price of diamonds down a bit.

maybe thats the "hidden planet", supposed to hit the earth on 2012-12-21...

if its from diamond, then we indeed would have no chance...

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Originally Posted by Looper

Discovered by a US-Franco research team, its radius is twice that of Earth's but it is much more dense with a mass eight times greater.

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This statement does not make sense. If you double the radius of a sphere its volume goes up by a factor of eight anyway so the density of this planet would be the same as the density of the earth.

Maybe they meant a density 8 times greater giving a mass 64 times greater than that of earth.

Anyway amazing stuff.

Good news ! I'll get De Beers in !

I thought diamonds are formed from super compressed and heated organic material. Was this diamond planet once a huge forest?

^ Nope

Carbon is just an element, available in a number of handy forms. It also of course is part of organic (and inorganic) compounds. But like all other elements, carbon originated from the fusion process in stars.

Thus you can have really profound thoughts and discussion about your body originally being part of a star, while completely wasted. :)

^^^^ Think they may have meant diameter instead of radius Looper?

Twice as big and 8 times heavier than Earth seems more realistic.

I might be talking out of my arse though 'cos I know f-all about planet densities and mass.:)

^^ Hairy muff.

The following is itself enough to give DeBeers nightmares:
Secret Russian Diamond Field: Moscow says it found trillions of carats of diamonds in asteroid crater.
According to the latest news out of Moscow, Russia is in control of a previously-secret diamond field that allegedly contains trillions of carats worth of reserves. That number is ten times greater than worldwide reserves, and if accurate, could potentially supply the global market for upwards of 3,000 years.

It is theoretically possible to convert gravy browning into diamonds. Just need a lot of heat and high pressure.

I thought I read this story about six months ago, no disrespect Looper, perhaps it's just deja vu.

It's just a lump of coal that's been through a Black Hole.

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Originally Posted by robuzo

According to the latest news out of Moscow, Russia is in control of a previously-secret diamond field that allegedly contains trillions of carats worth of reserves. That number is ten times greater than worldwide reserves, and if accurate, could potentially supply the global market for upwards of 3,000 years.

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no value, it has to come from earth to be valuable :p

^ ^
I must get myself a coloured girlfriend

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Originally Posted by Sir Wilson

I thought I read this story about six months ago

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It seems like diamond planets are not totally new to science.

PSR J1719-1438 b is also a diamond planet and has an even shorter period than Cancri E. It orbits around its post supernova pulsar star in just 2 hours.

Maybe these low orbit planets are under such enormous stresses from the gravity from their stars that this is enough to transform carbon into its crystalline form.

55 Cancri E's low orbit round its sun-like star means it must be incredibly hot too which also helps to crystallise carbon I think or maybe not.

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Originally Posted by Bogon

^^^^ Think they may have meant diameter instead of radius Looper?

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Diameter/Radius same same if you double it you increase volume by eight. Anyway it seems 55 Cancri E has 2x Earth radius and 8x earth mass so its density must be the same as earth not much greater as reported.