The new planet is far denser than any other known so far and consists largely of carbon. Because it is so dense, scientists calculate the carbon must be crystalline, so a large part of this strange world will effectively be diamond.
"The evolutionary history and amazing density of the planet all suggest it is comprised of carbon -- i.e. a massive diamond orbiting a neutron star every two hours in an orbit so tight it would fit inside our own Sun," said Matthew Bailes of Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne.
Lying 4,000 light years away, or around an eighth of the way toward the center of the Milky Way from the Earth, the planet is probably the remnant of a once-massive star that has lost its outer layers to the so-called pulsar star it orbits.
Pulsars are tiny, dead neutron stars that are only around 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) in diameter and spin hundreds of times a second, emitting beams of radiation.
In the case of pulsar J1719-1438, the beams regularly sweep the Earth and have been monitored by telescopes in Australia, Britain and Hawaii, allowing astronomers to detect modulations due to the gravitational pull of its unseen companion planet.
The measurements suggest the planet, which orbits its star every two hours and 10 minutes, has slightly more mass than Jupiter but is 20 times as dense, Bailes and colleagues reported in the journal Science on Thursday.
In addition to carbon, the new planet is also likely to contain oxygen, which may be more prevalent at the surface and is probably increasingly rare toward the carbon-rich center.
Its high density suggests the lighter elements of hydrogen and helium, which are the main constituents of gas giants like Jupiter, are not present.
Just what this weird diamond world is actually like close up, however, is a mystery.
"In terms of what it would look like, I don't know I could even speculate," said Ben Stappers of the University of Manchester. "I don't imagine that a picture of a very shiny object is what we're looking at here."
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I think this article is misleading and misinformed, "the planet" is not actually a planet, it's star. Specifically, a very dense kind of star call white dwarf. White dwarfs aren't rare in the Milky Way by any stretch of the imagination, they are the remaining cores of small to medium sized stars, and they are commonly found in binary systems, usually paired up with larger stars -- you can easily see a binary white dwarf system from your backyard without a telesope, during the winter time go out at night and look for the brighest star in the sky, it's called Sirius. All the white dwarfs are like diamonds, since they are mainly comprised of carbon, and diamonds are the most compressed form of carbon, since white dwarfs were once cores of stars, the pressure exerted on them is more than enough to form a very large diamond. Not really a mystery, more like a novelty.
@ifesvr I don't think that would be the case, surely there'd be a greater supply of diamonds, but the cost to mine them would still keep the prices pretty high.
Don't be excited yet it is a mystery.
I bet, a woman is gonna be setting foot on this one first.
Could be me.
why allah created such a diamond planet 4000 light years away .Why not mars or venus created as diamond or gold planets rather than waste lands with toxic chemicals as it is seen today .. why not asteroids full of diamonds floating around rather than rocks.. billion rocks circling without any purpose for humans.. IF muslims can answer please rather than go with the book.
Subhan ALLAH...
Dream of every jeweler to book a plot on that planet :)
@ali: dude you are safe...its 4000 light years away
I sure hope my wife isn't reading this!