Scientists discover the diamond planet
Scientists have discovered a planet they believe is made of diamond. An international research team made the discovery with scientists from Australia, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, including Michael Kramer from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, according to Astronomy Magazine.
Pulsars are tiny stars the periodically give off a burst of radio waves, which scientists don't fully understand. They are formed when the core of a massive star is compressed during a supernova, which collapses into a neutron star, which then gives off radiation during a fixed period. "The ultimate fate of the binary is determined by the mass and orbital period of the donor star at the time of mass transfer.
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," said Benjamin Stappers from the University of Manchester, to Astronomy.
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.
The team said it was certain the material is crystalline and that a large part of the star is similar to a diamond. 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.
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