Astronomers, more bling than rap stars

Who has more bling than rap stars? Astronomers do, according to a report from published in the journal Science, from a study led by Professor Matthew Bailes of Swinburne University of Technology in Australia. The published report reports the find of a planet-sized diamond orbiting a rapidly spinning star, called a pulsar, about 4,000 light-years from Earth.

LONDON, ENGLAND (Catholic Online) - Setting the diamond into a ring or a necklace might be something of a challenge as it is approximately four times the size of the Earth. According to astronomers, the planet wasn't always a planet. Rather, it used to be part of a binary system, that is two stars that orbit each other. 

When the star that became the diamond fused all of its hydrogen into helium, and that in turn to other elements, it collapsed inward under the weight of its own gravity until it was little more than an extremely dense ball of carbon--which is what diamonds are. 

It orbits a pulsar, which is itself a very exotic object in space. Pulsars are collapsed stars, usually only a dozen miles across in diameter, that spin very, very rapidly, sometimes thousands of times per second. As they spin, they emit beams of radiation, in this case beams that sweep across the earth The diamond planet orbits its pulsar every two hours. 

The planet was discovered by researchers studying the pulsar, named, J1719-1438. As they evaluated the pulsar, they found evidence of the planet. Using modern research techniques, they were able to ascertain not only that there was a dead star in orbit around it, but also the composition of that body.

Such research techniques and the equipment to apply them,  have been developed only in the last decade and have revealed that planets are rather common in our galaxy. The exotic nature of those planets, and other celestial bodies, has been the focus recent of research as scientists look for planets around stars that could harbor life. 

In this case, astronomers did not find any chance for life, but they certainly found a diamond of exquisite size. 

The planet-sized diamond has not yet been appraised. 

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