Diamond star thrills astronomers

w1z4rd

w1z4rd

Karmic Sangoma
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Twinkling in the sky is a diamond star of 10 billion trillion trillion carats, astronomers have discovered.
The cosmic diamond is a chunk of crystallised carbon, 4,000 km across, some 50 light-years from the Earth in the constellation Centaurus.

It's the compressed heart of an old star that was once bright like our Sun but has since faded and shrunk.

Astronomers have decided to call the star "Lucy" after the Beatles song, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

Twinkle twinkle

"You would need a jeweller's loupe the size of the Sun to grade this diamond," says astronomer Travis Metcalfe, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who led the team of researchers that discovered it.

The diamond star completely outclasses the largest diamond on Earth, the 546-carat Golden Jubilee which was cut from a stone brought out of the Premier mine in South Africa.

The huge cosmic diamond - technically known as BPM 37093 - is actually a crystallised white dwarf. A white dwarf is the hot core of a star, left over after the star uses up its nuclear fuel and dies. It is made mostly of carbon.

For more than four decades, astronomers have thought that the interiors of white dwarfs crystallised, but obtaining direct evidence became possible only recently.

The white dwarf is not only radiant but also 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," says Metcalfe.

Astronomers expect our Sun will become a white dwarf when it dies 5 billion years from now. Some two billion years after that, the Sun's ember core will crystallise as well, leaving a giant diamond in the centre of the solar system.

"Our Sun will become a diamond that truly is forever," says Metcalfe.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3492919.stm?ref=nf
Expect nigerians to join the space race soon.
 
Interesting.

I wonder how it rates on the other quality measures (Clarity & Colour) ?? - since Cut is not applicable :)

You know what they say when buying a diamond "dont look for the biggest diamond you can find at the best price - cause you'll end up with a big stone thats inferior ito clarity and colour (and cut, if applicable).
 
Kompete said:
Interesting.

I wonder how it rates on the other quality measures (Clarity & Colour) ?? - since Cut is not applicable :)

You know what they say when buying a diamond "dont look for the biggest diamond you can find at the best price - cause you'll end up with a big stone thats inferior ito clarity and colour (and cut, if applicable).
Click to expand...
Well, guessing at the gravitational forces involved in a rock that size I'll bet its pretty clear.
 
Geriatrix said:
Well, guessing at the gravitational forces involved in a rock that size I'll bet its pretty clear.
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Yep, and a star would probably burn any impurities away in a manner that our coldish lava flows could only dream of. And yeah, I know I'm not being technically correct. ;-)
 
Tacet said:
Yep, and a star would probably burn any impurities away in a manner that our coldish lava flows could only dream of. And yeah, I know I'm not being technically correct. ;-)
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So you guys are saying somewhere out there, is a Flawless (FL); Colourless (D), Round cut; 4000km diameter stone. Thats pretty awesome...Of course the day we have access to this stone is also the day, the diamond market collapse and diamonds loose all value (except maybe for industrial purposes) ;)
 
Kompete said:
So you guys are saying somewhere out there, is a Flawless (FL); Colourless (D), Round cut; 4000km diameter stone. Thats pretty awesome...Of course the day we have access to this stone is also the day, the diamond market collapse and diamonds loose all value (except maybe for industrial purposes) ;)
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AFAIK the money in the diamond market lies in industrial applications. But yeah, I guess the diamond world will be changed forever if we get to walk on that little rock.
 
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