I've Got The Biggest Diamond In The World ... Wanna See It?
Astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have come across a
diamond roughly a thousand miles in diameter. Unfortunately the inevitable crash in diamond prices will come after Valentine's Day. Also, the Big Rock is 50 light-years away from Earth.
Post title borrowed from "Belle of the Baaah" (Sheep in the Big City)
Via MonkeyFilter
Comments
I'm a little confused. If crystallised white dwarfs are made of compressed carbon, ie diamond, then why is this news? Aren't there thousands, millions, of such stars? As they say at the end, the Sun will wind up that way. So why are they all "omg, we found a diamond star!!!"?
Posted by: language hat | February 17, 2004 11:05 AM
Because this is [I believe] the first direct evidence that white dwarfs actually are made of crystallised carbon. That longstanding theory was confirmed by this observation. Plus, doesn't a diamond sixty times the volume of the Antarctic Ice Cap capture your imagination? (I used the volume approximation found here.)
Posted by: Songdog | February 17, 2004 11:31 AM
doesn't a diamond sixty times the volume of the Antarctic Ice Cap capture your imagination?
Well, hell, yeah! When I read the story my first reaction was "Cool!" But then it seemed that it was a well-known fact, so I got confused. Thanks for clearing it up!
Posted by: language hat | February 17, 2004 12:12 PM
sent me a picture of a largest diamond in the world please??????
Posted by: ben | January 28, 2005 02:19 AM
I am so excited to see the pic of the biggest diamon,because we have a science trivia project in our school.and my best opinion to explore was the biggest diamond in the world.thank you
Posted by: Lexzy Belle Arce | June 24, 2007 08:28 PM