(Image source: Swinburne Astronomy Productions / National Geographic)
BY STEVEN SPARKMAN
You're watching multisource science video news analysis from Newsy.
Astronomers are used to looking at bright objects in the sky, but a new planet might be the first that really sparkles. MSNBC explains.
“An Australian astronomer believed to have discovered a once-massive star that’s been transformed into a small planet made of diamond. It orbits a pulsar in a remote corner of our galaxy.”
The diamond planet is five times the size of Earth and weighs as much as Jupiter. That’s one giant rock. As you might expect, the sparkly planet has an unusual history. It turns out being close to a pulsar is a dangerous place for stars to hang out.
This animation from Swinburne University of Technology shows how the pulsar did a little diamond cutting. It stripped away the outer layers of the star, leaving a core made up of mostly carbon.
One of the researchers tells ABC Australia they haven’t observed the diamond planet directly, but it’s the only thing that fits the evidence.
“It’s sort of a case of Sherlock Holmes where you try lots of normal-ish things and whatever’s left, even though it’s bizarre, it’s gotta be the right answer. … The theory kind of tells us that because it’s so massive and so compact it’s all got to be packed in in a big crystal.”
(Video source: NASA / Wikimedia Commons)
Because of its mass, the crystals forming the diamond planet are actually more compact than diamonds on Earth. But it still has most of the same properties. One astronomer tells New Scientist:
“It's highly speculative, but if you shine a light on it, I can't see any reason why it wouldn't sparkle like a diamond...”
The researchers say the diamond planet depends on very exotic circumstances. So just like on Earth, huge diamonds are rare throughout the universe.
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Transcript by Newsy.
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