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Astronomers discover
diamond-like planet in the
sky
Scientists at the University of Manchester and international colleagues
made the discovery while studying a rare spinning star which lies 4,000
light years from Earth in the Milky Way.
The unusual star – known as a pulsar – spins around hundreds of times
every second, giving off beams of radio waves like a lighthouse as it turns.
But irregular movements in the radio pulses being received by scientists
back on Earth told them something else must be getting in the way.
In a study published in the Science journal the researchers, led by Prof
Matthew Bailes of Swinburne University of Technology in Australia,
concluded that the beams were being swayed by a companion planet
orbiting the star.
Even though the star itself has a diameter of just 20km – the size of a
small city – the planet measures up to 60,000km across, about five times
the Earth's diameter, and is about 300 times heavier.
It is believed to be the remnant of another, huge star which transferred its
energy to the pulsar when it died, leaving behind a crystallised core made
of carbon and oxygen, similar to diamond.
Despite measuring only 20km across, the pulsar known as J1719-1438 is so
dense that its mass is almost one-and-a-half times greater than that of
the sun.
Dropping a brick onto the star, Prof Bailes said, would generate about as
much energy as an atom bomb.
Astronomers discover diamond-like planet in the sky - Telegraph
-----------
Scientists Discover
'Diamond Planet' Orbiting
Pulsar
A so-called "diamond planet" has been discovered by an international
research team, orbiting a pulsar about 4,000 light-years away.
The small planet, orbiting the pulsar PSR J1719-1438, is believed to be
denser than platinum, yet made up entirely of oxygen and carbon. The
forces upon the planet are so extreme, scientists believe, that the planet
must be largely crystalline - meaning that it's likely that it's a form of
diamond as well.
If it were a gas giant, the diameter of the planet might put it within range
of the point at which the gravitational forces being placed upon it would rip
it apart, astronomy journals reported.
"It's highly speculative, but if you shine a light on it, I can't see any reason
why it wouldn't sparkle like a diamond," says Travis Metcalfe of the
National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, talking to
New Scientist.
An international research team made the discovery with scientists from
Australia, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States,
including Michael Kramer from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy
in Bonn, Germany, according to Astronomy Magazine.
Pulsars are tiny stars the periodically give off a burst of radio waves, which
scientists don't fully understand. They are formed when the core of a
massive star is compressed during a supernova, which collapses into a
neutron star, which then gives off radiation during a fixed period.
"The ultimate fate of the binary is determined by the mass and orbital
period of the donor star at the time of mass transfer. The rarity of
millisecond pulsars with planet-mass companions means that producing
such exotic planets is the exception rather than the rule, and requires
special circumstances," said Benjamin Stappers from the University of
Manchester, to Astronomy.
According to the study, the astronomers concluded that the radio waves
were being modulated by a small planet about 370,000 miles away from the
pulsar.
Scientists Discover 'Diamond Planet' Orbiting Pulsar | News & Opinion | PCMag.com
----------
You can see a 1 minute video in this article too.
Astrophile: The diamond as big as a planet - space - 25 August 2011 - New Scientist
diamond-like planet in the
sky
Scientists at the University of Manchester and international colleagues
made the discovery while studying a rare spinning star which lies 4,000
light years from Earth in the Milky Way.
The unusual star – known as a pulsar – spins around hundreds of times
every second, giving off beams of radio waves like a lighthouse as it turns.
But irregular movements in the radio pulses being received by scientists
back on Earth told them something else must be getting in the way.
In a study published in the Science journal the researchers, led by Prof
Matthew Bailes of Swinburne University of Technology in Australia,
concluded that the beams were being swayed by a companion planet
orbiting the star.
Even though the star itself has a diameter of just 20km – the size of a
small city – the planet measures up to 60,000km across, about five times
the Earth's diameter, and is about 300 times heavier.
It is believed to be the remnant of another, huge star which transferred its
energy to the pulsar when it died, leaving behind a crystallised core made
of carbon and oxygen, similar to diamond.
Despite measuring only 20km across, the pulsar known as J1719-1438 is so
dense that its mass is almost one-and-a-half times greater than that of
the sun.
Dropping a brick onto the star, Prof Bailes said, would generate about as
much energy as an atom bomb.
Astronomers discover diamond-like planet in the sky - Telegraph
-----------
Scientists Discover
'Diamond Planet' Orbiting
Pulsar
A so-called "diamond planet" has been discovered by an international
research team, orbiting a pulsar about 4,000 light-years away.
The small planet, orbiting the pulsar PSR J1719-1438, is believed to be
denser than platinum, yet made up entirely of oxygen and carbon. The
forces upon the planet are so extreme, scientists believe, that the planet
must be largely crystalline - meaning that it's likely that it's a form of
diamond as well.
If it were a gas giant, the diameter of the planet might put it within range
of the point at which the gravitational forces being placed upon it would rip
it apart, astronomy journals reported.
"It's highly speculative, but if you shine a light on it, I can't see any reason
why it wouldn't sparkle like a diamond," says Travis Metcalfe of the
National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, talking to
New Scientist.
An international research team made the discovery with scientists from
Australia, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States,
including Michael Kramer from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy
in Bonn, Germany, according to Astronomy Magazine.
Pulsars are tiny stars the periodically give off a burst of radio waves, which
scientists don't fully understand. They are formed when the core of a
massive star is compressed during a supernova, which collapses into a
neutron star, which then gives off radiation during a fixed period.
"The ultimate fate of the binary is determined by the mass and orbital
period of the donor star at the time of mass transfer. The rarity of
millisecond pulsars with planet-mass companions means that producing
such exotic planets is the exception rather than the rule, and requires
special circumstances," said Benjamin Stappers from the University of
Manchester, to Astronomy.
According to the study, the astronomers concluded that the radio waves
were being modulated by a small planet about 370,000 miles away from the
pulsar.
Scientists Discover 'Diamond Planet' Orbiting Pulsar | News & Opinion | PCMag.com
----------
You can see a 1 minute video in this article too.
Astrophile: The diamond as big as a planet - space - 25 August 2011 - New Scientist
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