Astronomers Reveal Planet Is Made Of Diamond

Sky News ^ | 3:51pm UK, Thursday 11 October 2012

[Olog-hai]

A planet about 40 light years away and twice the size of Earth is made largely out of diamond, astronomers have said. The rocky planet, called 55 Cancri e, which is in the constellation of Cancer, is orbiting a sun-like star that is visible with the naked eye.

Discovered by a US-Franco research team, the planet's radius is twice that of Earth's and its mass eight times greater. Temperatures on its surface reach 3,900°F (1,648°C).

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

[GeronL]

cool.

[rsobin]

De Beers ain’t gonna like this.

[EEGator]

Kobe Bryant is wondering how many times he can cheat with that rock at his disposal.

[gorush]

“How do I love thee, let me count the ways...”

[Fido969]

Quick - short diamonds!

[blueunicorn6]

And it’s inhabited by those green women from Star Trek!

[Beowulf9]

Well, where do you expect the Gabor’s go for Heaven?

[DBrow]

It seems odd that a planet would be made mostly of carbon. I’d assume that solid planets would be made up of the usual dispersion of supernova debris, lots of stuff from Z=8 to Z=30.

Unless there is a spectroscopic signature strongly pointing to diamond, graphite, or carbon buckyballs, I’ll chalk this one up to wild speculation and a “journalist” to report it.

[ConservativeInPA]

Anyone interested in investing in a private, for profit operation to mine diamonds please FRmail me. Please include, name, address, social security number, and primary bank account number. I will organize the entire mission.

[CrazyIvan]

Wonder what carbon credits go for there.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

De Beers ain’t gonna like this.

If they can't get their hands on it first, they'll just start referring to it as a conflict planet and no one will want to touch it.

[COBOL2Java]

"You betta bring NASA back in your next term, fool!"

[BereanBrain]

Key word = LIKELY

BAD SCIENCE

[Tucker39]

Hey! What does “Aunt Esther” have to do with all this? ;o)

P.S. If there ever was a “poster face” for the saying, “A face that could make a freight train take a dirt road,” that’s the face!

[The_Reader_David]

Well, it looks like they found the planet Midnight from Doctor Who. (And, no, it's not inhabited by the green women from Star Trek. You really, really don't want to meet the inhabitant(s?). Though, with proper shielding, it makes a lovely resort planet.)

[Squawk 8888]

Probably good science and bad reporting. I expect that the researchers did a specto analysis that showed a lot of carbon, then based on the conditions concluded that a lot of the carbon could be in the form of diamonds. The reporter would conclude that possible=likely.

[TigersEye]

We better hurry! Harcourt Fenton Mudd is already on his way there.

[fish hawk]

To bad Neil Armstrong can't put down the first Carbon Footprint.

[Morris70]

You cannot have the diamond. They belong to our people.