Astronomers discover diamond planet

Astronomers discover diamond planet

A research team led by Professor Matthew Bailes of Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, has discovered a gigantic planet that could be made of solid diamond.

Their findings were recently reported in the latest journal Science, and the image shows an artists impression of the planet as it orbits around pulsar PSR J1719-1438.

A pulsar is a small rapidly spinning star (an incredible 10,000 times per minute) about 20km in diameter that emits radiation as regular (X-ray) bursts of energy.

The Diamond Planet is much denser than any other planet discovered so far

It was this regular pulsing that allowed researchers to determine the size, mass and orbit of the Diamond Planet.

The Diamond Planet is much denser than any other planet discovered so far, with an orbit so tight (600,000 km) around the pulsar that it fits inside the diameter of our own Sun (1,380,000kms) and orbits it every 2 hours and 10 minutes.

The planet has more mass than Jupiter (the largest planet in our solar system and is 316 times more massive than Earth), with a diameter of 60,000 km or about 5 times the diameter of Earth.

The Diamond Planet and its pulsar sun are 4,000 light years away
Source: greenmuze.com

Published Aug 28 2011