Astronomers: We've found a planet made of diamond

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20097817-71/astronomers-weve-found-a-planet-made-of-diamond/?part=rss&subj=latest-news&tag=image"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2011/08/26/3854090122_1a3bee56dd.jpg" alt="" /></a></div><p>Perhaps the biggest frustration for astronomers is that they can't get to the places that most interest them. </p> <p>So please imagine the excitement--and vexation--of skygazers who believe they have discovered a planet that might just be the shiniest piece of bling out there. <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/25/us-planet-diamond-idUSTRE77O69A20110825" >Reuters paints a picture</a> of astronomers who feel like someone who has just been offered 27 carats over their chocolate pudding. </p> <p>For there seems to be a planet orbiting tightly around a small star just down the road (in celestial terms) from Earth that is "a massive diamond."</p> <p class="image-caption">If only Planet Tiffany could look like this.</p> <span class="image-credit">(Credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevendepolo/3854090122/sizes/m/in/photostream/"> CC StevenDePolo/Flickr</a>)</span> <p>Those last three words aren't mine. They are those of a seemingly very excited Matthew Bailes, a professor at the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. For he told Reuters: "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." </p> <p> The discovery was reported yesterday in the <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2011/08/19/science.1208890" >journal Science</a>. </p><p> Astronomers are th... <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20097817-71/astronomers-weve-found-a-planet-made-of-diamond/?part=rss&subj=latest-news&tag=readMore">[Read more]</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/cnet/tcoc/~4/Mlf2i9hnk-8" height="1" width="1"/> [More]