Astronomers reveal diamond covered planet twice the size of Earth

[A.Rafay]

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A planet which really does twinkle like a diamond in the sky has been discovered by scientists - its surface is littered with the precious stones.
The planet - called 55 Cancri e - has a radius double the size of Earth’s, and weighs eight times more.
Whilst Earth’s surface is covered in water and granite, the new planet is thought to be covered in diamonds and graphite.
A new study estimates that at least a third of the planet’s mass - the equivalent of the weight of three Earths - could be diamond.
This is the first time astronomers have identified a likely diamond planet around a sun-like star and unearthed its chemical make-up.
‘This is our first glimpse of a rocky world with a fundamentally different chemistry from Earth,’ said lead researcher Nikku Madhusudhan.
‘The surface of this planet is likely covered in graphite and diamond rather than water and granite.’
The diamond planet orbits at hyper speed - its year lasts just 18 hours, in contrast to Earth’s 365 days.
But with a blazingly hot temperature of about 3,900F, researchers say it will not live on.
It one of five planets orbiting a sun-like star, 55 Cancri, that is located 40 light years from Earth yet visible to the naked eye in the constellation of Cancer.
The planet was first observed orbiting its star last year, allowing astronomers to measure its radius for the first time.
This new information, combined with the most recent estimate of its mass, allowed Madhusudhan and colleagues to determine its chemical make-up.
Research suggests the planet has no water at all, and appears to be composed mainly of carbon (as graphite and diamond), iron, silicon carbide, and, possibly, some silicates.
‘By contrast, Earth’s interior is rich in oxygen, but extremely poor in carbon - less than a part in thousand by mass,’ says co-author and Yale geophysicist Kanani Lee.
The identification of a carbon-rich super-Earth means that distant rocky planets can no longer be assumed to have compositions similar to that of Earth.
David Spergel, professor of astronomy and chair of astrophysical sciences at Princeton University, said: ‘This ‘diamond-rich super-Earth’ is likely just one example of the rich sets of discoveries that await us as we begin to explore planets around nearby stars.’
The paper reporting the findings has been accepted for publication in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Astronomers reveal diamond covered planet twice the size of Earth | Pakistan Today | Latest news | Breaking news | Pakistan News | World news | Business | Sport and Multimedia

[Supply&Demand]

We should plan to colonize the planet!!!!

[A.Rafay]

We should plan to colonize the planet!!!!

Yea looks like india is ready to go on a planet that is located 40 light years from Earth on its agni v missile!!!

[slapshot]

Yea looks like india is ready to go on a planet that is located 40 light years from Earth on its agni v missile!!!

naa they must be using brahmos to be there fast Just kidding...

[S_O_C_O_M]

We should plan to colonize the planet!!!!

value of the diamonds would be incredibly low due to the abduance of it.

[Chinese-Dragon]

We already have such planets in our own solar system, Neptune and Uranus.

'Oceans of diamonds' on Uranus and Neptune - Telegraph

But the cost of getting a spacecraft to and from there, far exceeds the worth of any diamonds they might bring back.

It would be a huge net loss.

[KingMamba93]

value of the diamonds would be incredibly low due to the abduance of it.

Depends on the cost of getting there and who gets there. I mean if most of the world gets a hand on those diamonds the value would be zilch but if someone gets a monopoly it could be lucrative. It all would come down to the cost of getting there and transporting the rocks.

[RazPaK]

Off-topic, but I have always wondered about mining asteroids for minerals and resources. Would be an excellent means of gathering resources if it were somehow cost-efficient.

[imperialmen]

DON'T SHOW IT TO THE LADIES!!

[ThinkLogic]

We should plan to colonize the planet!!!!

Yeaahhh! Come on! Lets teach those brick and sand mafia a lesson!

[Loki]

Off-topic, but I have always wondered about mining asteroids for minerals and resources. Would be an excellent means of gathering resources if it were somehow cost-efficient.

Possible, but very difficult and risky with our current technology.

There may be legal and regulation issues to this as well. Though, it's not outright illegal - at least by private companies.

Just last month NASA announced a robot asteroid prospector:
Asteroid Prospector

Prospecting is only the first step.

The hard part would be how to actually extract them damn diamonds

And it'd certainly be an extremely expensive and risky venture even if we do try.

Our space technology has not progressed too far ever since the space race back in the Cold War days.

Wet dreams for now

[Don777]

Holly $hit. Now girlfriends will be seriously asking men to chand tare tod ke lao. poor boys

[Audio]

Breaking: Private company does indeed plan to mine asteroids… and I think they can do it | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

Planetary Resources, Inc. is not your average startup: its mission is to investigate and eventually mine asteroids in space!

Last week, the company issued a somewhat cryptic announcement saying they “will overlay two critical sectors – space exploration and natural resources – to add trillions of dollars to the global GDP”. I predicted this meant they wanted to mine asteroids, and yes, I will toot my own horn: I was right. They’re holding a press conference Tuesday morning to officially announce they’re going asteroid hunting.

The company had a pretty fierce amount of credibility right off the bat, with several ex-NASA engineers, an astronaut, and planetary scientists involved, as well as the backing of not one but several billionaires, including a few from Google… not to mention James Cameron. The co-founders of Planetary Resources are Peter Diamandis — he created the highly-successful X-Prize Foundation, to give cash awards to incremental accomplishments that will help achieve technological breakthroughs, including those for space travel — and Eric Anderson, X-Prize board member and Chairman of the Board of the Space Spaceflight Federation.

These are very, very heavy hitters. Clearly, they’re not screwing around.

So what’s the deal?

Lets see where this goes!

[--,-'{@]

value of the diamonds would be incredibly low due to the abduance of it.

any plans to sell off diamonds and buy some gold instead

[Audio]

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This could be a good incentive for the De Bers family to start financing future space exploration/exploatation. Now, thats some serious money

For anyone that doesn't know, thats the family which pretty much singlehandedly holds most of the diamond trade/sources on the world like since forever.
Recent Russian discovery might be a good enough catalyst...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Beers

But ofcourse, as always, the fat will get fatter on the shoulders of the little guy.