Massive diamond planet discovered

[jugoso]

A large, rocky planet composed partially of diamonds has been discovered by astronomers at Yale University.

The planet, called 55 Cancri e, has a radius twice as big as Earth’s and a mass eight times greater. It is one of five planets that orbit a star 40 light years from Earth.

“This is our first glimpse of a world with a fundamentally different chemistry from Earth,” said lead researcher Nikku Madhusudhan, a Yale postdoctoral researcher in physics and astronomy.

“The surface of this planet is likely covered in graphite and diamond rather than water and granite.”

The planet orbits exceedingly quickly. Its year lasts just 18 hours, in contrast to Earth’s 365 days.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/10/11/diamond-planet-yale.html

[synchronomy]

18 hour orbit!

It must be incredibly close to it's star.

[CommunitarianKevin]

I read about that. Pretty crazy...

In other news the US has increased NASA's budget 10 fold to focus on space travel...

[JGirl]

very interesting indeed!

i was googling how diamonds are formed on other planets after reading this and i ran into a cool article bout diamonds being formed from methane. i'm thinking hey my boyfriend produces a lot of methane...could we harness this??

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/carbon-99d.html

[tipotep]

very interesting indeed!

i was googling how diamonds are formed on other planets after reading this and i ran into a cool article bout diamonds being formed from methane. i'm thinking hey my boyfriend produces a lot of methane...could we harness this??

http://www.spacedail...carbon-99d.html

You could harness it , but your diamond will be the rare brown type

TiP.

[K_Bonita]

Diamond planet huh....how I wish to live there (if it were possible).

[JGirl]

You could harness it , but your diamond will be the rare brown type

TiP.

eww

[Bling]

Sounds like my kinda planet.....I'm all for the bling!

[Grey14]

very interesting indeed!

i was googling how diamonds are formed on other planets after reading this and i ran into a cool article bout diamonds being formed from methane. i'm thinking hey my boyfriend produces a lot of methane...could we harness this??

http://www.spacedail...carbon-99d.html

Well don't they need some sort of applied pressure to form. He may not be up for that kind of "packing".

[xYlvax]

Amazing. I bet we'll end up mining it way in the future.

[supervike]

In other news, the DeBeers company has announced the building of a huge new vault...

[Taun]

If I did my math right.... And if that planet is solid diamond... It is approx. 1,337,576,923,076,920,000,000,000,000,000 carats...

At an average price of $2,500 per carat (?) the planet's book value is approx $3,343,942,307,692,310,000,000,000,000,000,000...

Practical value (since it's so huge and so far away..) $0....

Edited October 12, 2012 by Taun

[Mnemonix]

It's a dream come true!

[taniwha]

Are there any rings around it??

[Hawken]

This planet is "A Girls Best Friend". lol

[PhoenixBird88]

Dibs!

[Taun]

Dibs!

If you can figure out a way to get there, get some diamond chunks and get back safely and quickly... I call dibs on riding Shotgun....

[BiffSplitkins]

So much for that Men are from Mars / Women are from Venus theory. Now all the women will say they are from this new diamond planet.

[McFakename]

U.S. government has said they have proof of WMD's on the planet are prepairing to invade... that's their track record right?

[Taun]

U.S. government has said they have proof of WMD's on the planet are prepairing to invade... that's their track record right?

WMD = Waaaaaaaay More Diamonds....

[MJNYC]

Great comments, LOL

[Skeptic Chicken]

In other news, the Kardashian's have hired a team from NASA...

[+ouija ouija]

I'm about to be dull and boring ....... : how do the scientists know this? in the article it seems to be all guesswork, 'possibly' and assumption. How can they guess at the construction of the mass of something so far away?

[Alienated Being]

I don't see rings orbiting the planet, I see dollar signs.

[FlyingAngel]

Keep dreaming guys. Unless teleportation is invented, keep dreaming. It's 40 "light" years away