Astronomers Find Planet Diamond Near Earth

Astronomers Find Planet Diamond Near Earth

By Yahoo! News | AFP - Fri, 12 Oct 2012
By Naomi Seck | AFP News

Stars are not the only glittering jewel in the sky. Scientists reported Thursday the existence of the "diamond planet" with a size two times larger than Earth and eight times the mass of our planet, spinning close to the star.
Even this is not the first diamonds were discovered planet, but this is the first planet discovered orbiting a star like the sun and elements can be broken down by specific chemical.
With this discovery distant rocky planet could no longer assumed to have the chemical elements, the interior, the atmosphere, and biology that are similar to Earth, according to lead researcher Nikku Madhusudhan, a post-doctoral researcher in physics and astronomy at Yale.
Diamond planet was first observed last year - but the researchers first assumed that the chemical elements planet similar to Earth.
Only after a detailed analysis of the research team combined American and French, they found that the planet 55 Cancri e is very different from Earth.
Apparently the planet is mostly made up of a combination of carbon (as graphite and diamond), iron, silicon carbide, and perhaps silicates. So wrote the researchers in a report published in the U.S. journal Astrophysical Journal Letters.
"The surface of the planet is likely covered by graphite and diamond, and not water, and granite," says Madhusudhan.
Even the planet seems to have absolutely no water. And about a third of the planet's mass could be made out of diamond, a type of carbon that is very solid.
In comparison, the Earth's interior is rich with very little oxygen and carbon, according to one researcher Kanani Lee of Yale.
The researchers estimate the planet radius while in front of its star. This information, combined with the estimated mass, the model is used to determine the composition of the planet. Based on the calculations, they then determine what are the elements that can generate specific size and mass as the planet.
The planet is orbiting a star very quickly - a year elapsed on Earth only 18 hours on the planet. And because it is so close to its star, the temperature at the surface of the average 3900 degrees Fahrenheit (2148 degrees Celsius), it does not allow the existence of life.
The planet only 40 light years from Earth and is located in the constellation Cancer opens new possibilities in the study of geochemical and geophysical processes in the Earth-sized planets others in our solar system.
High levels of carbon likely impact on the formation of volcanoes, earthquakes, and mountains, as well as add to the evidence that planets are more diverse and more than initially estimated.
"The stars are quite simple - to see the mass and age of stars, you can know the basic structure as well as its history," said David Spergel, an astronomer from Princeton University.
"The planet is more complex. 'Diamond-rich Earth' can be just one example of finding richer still waiting for us, as we begin to explore other planets near these stars."

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