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...

[TADSLOS]

If my wife sees this on QVC, I'm a goner.

[Ashamed Canadian]

If my wife sees this on QVC, I'm a goner.

LMAO!

[Constitution Day]

De Beers is devising a way to claim mineral rights as we speak.

[robertpaulsen]

"The gem, estimated at close to 10 billion trillion trillion carats,"

Wasn't this about the size of the diamond that Kobe gave his wife?

[Johnny_Cipher]

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

(And the mount needed for a 17 quintilion carat ring would be a task in itself) :)

[1Old Pro]

If diamonds ever become affordable women won't want them anymore.

[ErnBatavia]

This just in...breaking: "Zsa Zsa Gabor enrolls in Astronaut School"

[CougarGA7]

DeBeers is probably already trying to buy the mining rights to that star.

That diamond is almost as large as the one Kobe Bryant had to buy his wife.

[No Blue States]

"This just in...breaking: "Zsa Zsa Gabor enrolls in Astronaut School"

Also there are confirmed reports that MR T is also suddenly interested in space travel.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Moon-sized diamond found in space

An alien preparing to propose to JLo?

[capitan_refugio]

Here is the sad truth about diamonds. Diamond is an inorganic form of carbon. So is graphite. Diamond is formed under great pressure and temperature and it is mineralogically unstable at STP (standard temperature and pressure) All diamonds begin to break down with time. The oldest known diamonds have dark-colored imperfections within their structure. That's where the diamond lattice is reverting to graphite. Given enough time, all diamonds will become graphite at STP, fit only as a pencil lead.

[Wombat101]

That diamond is not the remnants of a star. It is the remians of the lump of coal that has been up Howard Dean's rectum until he gave up this morning...

[No Blue States]

"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*.

Now what will they name the large chunk of purple microdot they discover?

[RightWingAtheist]

However, the white dwarf is not only radiant but also harmonious. It rings like a gigantic gong, undergoing constant pulsations

The late Robert Forward once wrote a short story called "The Signing Diamond." I wish he was here to see this.

[bolobaby]

Yeah, but what's the color/clarity? We need to get a gemologist up there right away!

[TADSLOS]

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

LOL, I'll remind my wife to wear her matching eraser earrings when we celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary in geologic time.

[RightWingAtheist]

Oh, and has anyone else here ever read "As Big as the Ritz" by Gregory Benford? It's a brilliant satire on socialism.

[blackdog]

That would explain all those applications for astronaut NASA has received from the Hassidic Orthodox Jewish Community.

All I want to know....."Is it safe?"

[4CJ]

Carbon core in a white dwarf? Somebody's pulling a leg somewhere ... Osmium & Iridium are far denser than carbon.