Scientists have discovered a planet they believe is made of diamond.
The international team, which includes Australian scientists, believes the "diamond planet" is the only thing left from what was a huge star in our own Milky Way galaxy.
The researchers, led by Professor Matthew Bailes from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, first detected an unusual star known as a pulsar using the Parkes radio telescope in central NSW.
They later confirmed their discovery with other powerful telescopes in Britain and the United States.
The research has been published in the international journal, Science.
Pulsars are rotating stars with a diameter of about 20 kilometres which emit a beam of electromagnetic radiation.
The team noticed that the arrival times of pulses were systematically modulated.
They deduced that a small companion planet must be orbiting the pulsar and causing a detectable gravitational pull.
Further examination revealed that although the planet is small its mass is slightly more than that of Jupiter.
The high density of the planet gave the team a clue to its origin.
"The remnant is likely to be largely carbon and oxygen, because a star made of lighter elements like hydrogen and helium would be too big to fit the measured orbiting times," the CSIRO's Dr Michael Keith, a member of the research team, said in a statement.
The team said it was certain the material is crystalline and that a large part of the star is similar to a diamond.
"The rarity of millisecond pulsars with planet-mass companions means that producing such exotic planets is the exception rather than the rule, and requires special circumstances," Dr Benjamin Stappers from the University of Manchester said in a statement.
The bad news for anyone who wants to get their hands on the newly-discovered mass of diamond is that it's 4000 light years from Earth in the constellation of Serpens.
Link to article: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/8290524/scientists-discover-the-diamond-planet
I'm naming to 'Midnight' after the diamond planet in Doctor Who
The international team, which includes Australian scientists, believes the "diamond planet" is the only thing left from what was a huge star in our own Milky Way galaxy.
The researchers, led by Professor Matthew Bailes from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, first detected an unusual star known as a pulsar using the Parkes radio telescope in central NSW.
They later confirmed their discovery with other powerful telescopes in Britain and the United States.
The research has been published in the international journal, Science.
Pulsars are rotating stars with a diameter of about 20 kilometres which emit a beam of electromagnetic radiation.
The team noticed that the arrival times of pulses were systematically modulated.
They deduced that a small companion planet must be orbiting the pulsar and causing a detectable gravitational pull.
Further examination revealed that although the planet is small its mass is slightly more than that of Jupiter.
The high density of the planet gave the team a clue to its origin.
"The remnant is likely to be largely carbon and oxygen, because a star made of lighter elements like hydrogen and helium would be too big to fit the measured orbiting times," the CSIRO's Dr Michael Keith, a member of the research team, said in a statement.
The team said it was certain the material is crystalline and that a large part of the star is similar to a diamond.
"The rarity of millisecond pulsars with planet-mass companions means that producing such exotic planets is the exception rather than the rule, and requires special circumstances," Dr Benjamin Stappers from the University of Manchester said in a statement.
The bad news for anyone who wants to get their hands on the newly-discovered mass of diamond is that it's 4000 light years from Earth in the constellation of Serpens.
Link to article: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/8290524/scientists-discover-the-diamond-planet
I'm naming to 'Midnight' after the diamond planet in Doctor Who
