Diamond Planet Discovered By Astronomers
The Huffington Post
by Laura Hibbard
8/25/11The nursery song “twinkle twinkle, little star” might have a whole new meaning now that astronomers have found a planet they believe to be made almost entirely of diamonds.
Scientists say the planet exists about 4,000 light years away from Earth, and is probably the remnants of a once-large dead star, Reuters reports. (Scroll down for video.)
“The evolutionary history and amazing density of the planet all suggest it is comprised of carbon,” Matthew Bailes of the University of Technology in Melbourne told Reuters. He calls it “a massive diamond orbiting a neutron star every two hours in an orbit so tight it would fit inside our own Sun.”
The Daily Mail reported that, even though the planet is small in size, it has slightly more mass than the planet Jupiter.
Scientists were able to find the planet by tracking its companion star, or a pulsar, using the Parkes Radio Telescope in Australia.
As to what the diamond planet looks like, Ben Stappers of the University of Manchester told The Macadonean International News Agency (MINA) it’s probably not what everyone pictures: “I don’t know I could even speculate. I don’t imagine that a picture of a very shiny object is what we’re looking at here.
Astronomers detected a similar planet in December 2010, only 1,200 light years away.
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Diamond
Author: Prop
♫ planets are a girl’s best friend! ♪
lol…they probably haven’t heard yet, with all that heavy campaigning in that swing state of Hawaii. Nope, I’m sure she is not yet aware.
Sherry Payton?? THEE Sherry Payton?!? Of the Drifting Feather, Sherry Paytons? Hello girl! Nice to see you!
I think Prop and a few scientists are smoking crack again; just cause there’s a carbon signature there doesn’t make it a diamond. That’s kinda like saying a McDonalds hamburger is a cow, or a Calcutta beggar in rags is a clothes horse.
And speaking of clothes horses, Callista Newtrich needs another diamond like the wealthiest 1% of Americans need all the rest of our money…
Yo Sherry:
Good to see you checking in.
Not in the habit of quoting myself, but I missed the obvious double entendre:
Or to put it another way, it’s just a ‘lay’ away ;-O
I mean, can you even imagine the Newster on top ?
Yuck! If he had a heart attack, she doesn’t have enough muscle to push him off or enough fat to survive until the parameds arrive.
Wadda couple… of what, I couldn’t say.