Moon-sized diamond found in space

The Register ^ | 17 February 2004 | Lucy Sherriff

[ShadowAce]

The biggest ever diamond has been found floating in space. The gem, estimated at close to 10 billion trillion trillion carats, is at the core of a dead star (BPM 37093) - a crystallised white dwarf.

The newly-discovered diamond in the sky is a whopping great chunk of crystallised carbon 50 light-years from the Earth in the constellation Centaurus. It is 2,500 miles across (the moon is approximately 2,200 miles across) and weighs 5 million trillion trillion pounds. It has been dubbed "Lucy" in reference to the Beatles' song, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". Diamond specialists told the research team that if nothing else, the diamond was much too big to wear*.

Theorists have long speculated that the cores of extinct white dwarves would crystallise, but until now have had no way to prove it. However, the white dwarf is not only radiant but also harmonious. It rings like a gigantic gong, undergoing constant pulsations.

"By measuring those pulsations, we were able to study the hidden interior of the white dwarf, just like seismograph measurements of earthquakes allow geologists to study the interior of the Earth. We figured out that the carbon interior of this white dwarf has solidified to form the galaxy's largest diamond," explained Travis Metcalfe, head of the team at Harvard Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics.

Our own Sun will become a white dwarf when it dies 5 billion years from now, having first expanded to engulf almost everything in the solar system. Two billion years after that, the core will crystallise, leaving a giant diamond in its place. ®

*Ms. Lopez, please take note: there are limits...

[Axenolith]

Osmium and Iridium need a supernova for formation. White dwarfs most likely wind down at the end of the carbon cycle.

[Jim Cane]

What a predicament. Even a Shuttle-sized load of this material would be enough to wreck the world price of diamond forever

Actually the whole diamond scam is about to collapse. The only thing keeping it going right now is DeBeers and the Jewelers Vigilance Committee.

Companies like Gemesis can manufacture diamonds which are bigger and better than natural ones.

Gold still has a future as jewelry that retains value.

[70times7]

We figured out that the carbon interior of this white dwarf has solidified to form the galaxy's largest diamond

Does this mean we should check Dean's interior for diamonds?

[gridlock]

As a rule of thumb, two Quintillion months salary is the appropriate amount of money to spend on an engagement ring...

[vavavah]

Great,go get that suckah.....hopefully, the quibic Z,I gave to the wife will be;....worth Mo Money...

[Bean Counter]

Arthur C. Clark predicted something like this in one of his novels....the core of Jupiter was a diamond the size of earth, carbon settling out int the core, heat, pressure, yada, yada....

It's been done....

[Junior]

De Beers just fainted...

[Eighth Square]

This could cause a run on the dollar! It's actually more 'series' than the guy with the high temperature water well!

[Lucy Lake]

Given enough time, all diamonds will become graphite at STP, fit only as a pencil lead.

How depressing. Did you have to post this!!!?

[3catsanadog]

It's mine!!!! I lost it and look where it ended up. Now where do I go to reclaim my lost jewel.

[IGOTMINE]

Jeez we can do some cool stuff. Monitoring the resonance of a dwarf star 50 million miles away to determine composition.

It's funny, but that is probably an easier task than finding one hanky head living in a cave in Pakistan. Well, all in good time I guess.

[zeugma]

So we should sue the bastards at DeBeers for advertizing that a "diamond is forever"!

[RightWhale]

Diamond will replace coal at the municipal power plant. Clean-burning, clean as natural gas, even cleaner.

[hopespringseternal]

Jeez we can do some cool stuff. Monitoring the resonance of a dwarf star 50 million miles away to determine composition.

Try 300 trillion miles away. 50 light years X 6 trillion miles/light year.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

"It's actually more 'series' than the guy with the high temperature water well!"

Did that guy ever show up again or is he lost forever in the black SUV's ?

[coloradan]

He gave a follow-up.

[Eighth Square]

Black SUVs were definitely involved and I have it on good authority that they moved him to the east side of the Sierra Nevada where he hitched a ride on the second Mars Rover and is currently testing wells on that planet.

More likely though, he finally put the 'bong' down.

[capitan_refugio]

Well, there are always rubies and sapphires (corundum - Al2O3; hardness = 9)! Not to mention emeralds (beryl - Be3Al2(Si6O18); hardness = 7.5-8).

According to Hurlbut and Klein, Manual of Mineralogy, 19th Edition, 1977:

"The synthesis of diamond in 1955 was the realization of an age-old dream and established the stability relations between polymorphs of carbon over a wide range of pressure and temperature. Diamond, as to be expected from its high specific gravity and fairly close packing, is the high pressure polymorph. At low pressures or temperatures it is unstable with respect to graphite and may be converted to graphite at moderate temperatures. The reason that diamond and graphite can coexist at room temperatures and pressures is because the reconstructive polymorphic reaction between the two minerals is very sluggish."

So the good news is, your diamonds are probably okay for several million years!!

[capitan_refugio]

"So we should sue the bastards at DeBeers for advertizing that a "diamond is forever"!"

That all depends on what the meaning of "is" is! ;^)

[mhking]

"It's mine you hear? Mine! ALL MINE! Get back in there! Down! Down! Down! Go! Go! Go! MINE! MINE! MINE!!!"

Just damn.

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