Massive Diamond Found Orbiting Pulsar 204
HairyNevus writes "A recent survey of pulsars has revealed a fascinating discovery of a millisecond pulsar in system PSR J17191438 that has stripped a nearby white dwarf star down to its very core. Although no longer visible, is still has the mass of Jupiter. The remaining core rotates its neutron star companion with a period of just under 2 hours, indicating extremely close proximity. Given this distance, scientists have calculated that the substance of the core must be very compact, and, without building up the point, they conclude it is made of diamond. One thing I found misleading about the article is that it refers to the core as having 'the size of Jupiter' and 'the mass of Jupiter.' Given their different densities (diamond vs. mostly helium), it would seem clear that their size (i.e. volume) differs."
Better Press Release (Score:5, Informative)
One thing I found misleading about the article is that it refers to the core as having 'the size of Jupiter' and 'the mass of Jupiter.'
Here's the correct Science Journal link [sciencemag.org] and here is a better press release from the Max Planck Institute [mpifr-bonn.mpg.de] that clarifies:
For the newly discovered pulsar, known as PSR J1719-1438, the astronomers noticed that the arrival times of the pulses were systematically modulated and concluded that this is due to the gravitational pull of a small orbiting companion, a planet. These modulations can tell astronomers several more things about the companion. First, it orbits the pulsar in just two hours and ten minutes, and the distance between the two objects is 600,000 km - a little bit less than the radius of our Sun. Second, the companion is so close to the pulsar that if its diameter was any larger than 60,000 km (less than half the diameter of Jupiter) it would be ripped apart by the gravity of the pulsar.
So it appears that the article saying "size equivalent to Jupiter" (volume?) is wrong if the Max Planck Institute is correct in saying that its diameter has to be less than half the diameter of Jupiter.
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Which would just be a failure to understand English?
Size never means mass, it always means volume or set of dimensions. Perhaps not in all dimensions at once aka items claimed to be "size of a credit card" but are in fact far thicker.
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OK we know how big it is.
Is it flawless?
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Carats is both volume and mass. Diamonds have a fixed density.
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damn (Score:4, Funny)
Now my wife will want it
Re:damn (Score:4, Funny)
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It would like something out of the Red Dwarf series or HHTTG to have some intergalactic civilization to dedicate an entire millienium to polishing this planet into a perfect cut diamond, only for it to be demolished to make way for an intergalactic highway.
Ooohhhh!! (Score:4, Funny)
Karats are too small... (Score:2)
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Don't think so; this brings mrs. Vandergilt [disneycomics.free.fr] to my mind.
Diamonds are not rare, not even on Earth. (Score:5, Insightful)
Still, its kinda nifty to see such a large chunk of the stuff.
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Regardless of what the De Beers group wants you to think, diamonds are not that rare. Carbon is the most common element around.
Hydrogen is the most common element, not Carbon. Or was that a hyperbole?
Re:Diamonds are not rare, not even on Earth. (Score:4, Funny)
Perhaps the parent meant on Earth, but that's also wrong [wikipedia.org], or perhaps they meant just the crust... nope, still wrong [wikipedia.org]. Or maybe it's the entire Universe? Nope, distant fourth [wikipedia.org].
Care to enlighten us Kenja?
Re:Diamonds are not rare, not even on Earth. (Score:4, Funny)
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I'll go with most common free atomic solid?
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Obviously it's hyperbole, but it ignores the distinction between carbon and diamonds. Diamonds here on Earth are relatively rare. And if you count this star or remnant as a single diamond, then they are still rare. Unless parent can explain his point about De Beers tricking everyone or whatever.
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DeBeers allegedly have lots of diamonds that they hold in vaults to reduce supply and artificially drive up costs. [nytimes.com] And apparently bought rough diamonds from competitors to maintain monopoly control. As they have in the past acted to control supply in that fashion, it would not be surprising if they continue to do so, and continue to lie tot he world that diamonds are as rare as they claim them to be. Along with probably lying about the "supply running low" as diamond mines are fully exploited, and purpos
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DeBeers has almost total control over diamond production (there are only a handful of mines worldwide that are not DeBeers controlled). They produce more than they sell, and stockpile the rest, creating artificial scarcity. Their marketing department is also responsible for a large proportion of the demand for diamonds. Despite what people think of as a long-standing tratition, prior to DeBeers marketing the hell out of them, diamonds weren't often used in engagement rings. Check your great grandparents rin
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When De Beers started diamonds were rare mainly because people did not know where to find them. In the last while prospectors have discovered where to look and diamonds have become much more common. I equate this to the price of aluminum. When it was first smelted aluminum was extremely expensive due to the difficulty in refining. It was even used as the cap on the Washington Monument due to the expense. Once the electrolysis process was discovered the price of aluminum plummeted. The price of diamonds shou
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No, in the universe, that would be hydrogen. Carbon is 4th in abundance. It's much farther down the list if you just consider the earth.
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Hydrogen, helium, lithium and trace amounts of everything else.
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Hydrogen, helium, lithium and trace amounts of everything else.
Lithium??? I must be missing an internal joke here. The third most abundant element of course is oxygen. In order: H, He, O, C.
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You're quite right. Major brainfart there. Was thinking nucleosynthesis.
Re:Diamonds are not rare, not even on Earth. (Score:5, Interesting)
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Man-made ones are pretty cheap and perfectly good for most purposes, especially tools. People only buy the "genuine" ones because they want something expensive and exclusive so it makes sense to limit the supply, but if utility is all you want then there are plenty of cheap sources.
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>>Actually, the easiest way to detect a manufactured diamond is precisely that it is so unnaturally perfect. Any natural diamond, no matter how "perfect" it is, has microscopic imperfections. Of course, you'd need to be a trained jeweler with special equipment to tell, but it's not at all undetectable.
I've never understood why a "natural" diamond should be worth more money, anyway. (Though the good artificial ones are actually quite expensive, too.) Given the rather nasty record of the DeBeers cartel,
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Why would it be more likely to be perfect?
if anything, i would think it LESS likely to be perfect due to tidal stresses on it because of it's close orbit to it's parent star.
Frankly, I don't understand why it's being called a "planet" at all. It seems quite clear to me that the only known way to obtain a pure carbon body of this size is via thermonuclear fusion over long periods of time. It's the only way to obtain enough heat and pressure to turn the entire body into a diamond. IE: This "planet" is almo
Obligatory (Score:5, Funny)
These planets are a diamond dozen.
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Nice pun. When I reddit I thought I was on a different site for a second.
Old Spice man says... (Score:2)
Time for a renaming... (Score:5, Funny)
We've just got to name the pulsar "Lucy" now.
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Excellent news (Score:3)
Pity I won't be around to see it, but can't have everything.
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A big hunk of carbon light years away? There's better incentives than that out there, for sure. Maybe if it was a giant tank of rocket fuel...
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Now we'll get private companies saying "hey, if we get into space there is some serious money to be made". .
Just to let you know, I will gladly sell you a deed for some land on the new diamond planet! Get in now before all the parcels are sold out!
Space is limited, but you will receive a certified verified framed deed for your own acre of diamond land, along with your name listed in "who's who in planet sized diamond owners"
Act now! Get in on the ground floor! Put your money in something solid, like diamond planets! We do layaway!
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That's correct. Asteroids have trillions of dollars worth of minable minerals. After being hollowed out, they make reasonably good habitats as they can hold oxygen inside.
So we could turn asteroids into mines, factories, and even houses.
Just make sure (Score:2)
That the missus doesn't read this article. Otherwise I know what she'll want for her birthday.
Is it really diamond? (Score:3)
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Serious question from someone with only college physics: if one were to somehow extract this liquid carbon from the white dwarf, would it cool off/ depressurize
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not so serious answer from someone with no degree:
I have no freaking idea, but:
If you slowly depressurize it you get graphite, if it's rapid you get diamond (based on how kimberlite pipes form and bring diamond up with them?)
Re:Is it really diamond? (Score:5, Informative)
The answer is no it is not diamond.
One issue is the one you point out, that the correct crystalline structure at high densities/pressures is not a diamond lattice. There is also the pesky fact that the inner portions of white dwarf stars are made of carbon and oxygen.
One could actually go on and on because diamond is a covalently bonded crystal, while this stuff will be a degenerate electron gas containing an ionic crystal, much more like a crystalline metal.
I study white dwarf stars for a living (yes really) and calling this stuff diamond is just idiotic.
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Yes, but did you note that the institute's press release put the lower bound of the density of that object at that of Platinum. Ie. this is not a real white dwarf, but a remnant of the core of a star. If only a tiny fraction of the original mass is present, as they postulate, I see reason why the remaining matter would be degenerate. The gravity well might not be deep enough for that.
This has no bearing on whether it is actually diamond, though. Your notion of the presence of oxygen is correct and I have no
This isn't diamond the way you're thinking (Score:4, Informative)
This isn't diamond in any sense that we usualy think of it. Yes, it's carbon atoms, and yes, they're "crystallized", but the core of a white dwarf is composed mostly of electron-degnerate matter where all of the electrons have been disassociated from their parent atoms and all the nuclei clump together, floating in a sea of electrons. This stuff has a density of roughly 1000 kilograms (2,200 lbs) per cubic centimeter. I imagine it would *catastrophically* decompress if you could teleport a chunk of it back to earth. It's not diamond.
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So... what you're saying is it's a "Diamond BOMB"! Get me the defence department STAT! We must acquire this new weapon before the commies...
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I imagine it would *catastrophically* decompress if you could teleport a chunk of it back to earth.
It's cool, we'll teleport it first to some other country, and then pay off the government in the form of space-diamonds.
Re:This isn't diamond the way you're thinking (Score:4, Funny)
I imagine it would *catastrophically* decompress if you could teleport a chunk of it back to earth
I imagine people would pay to see that; I know I would.
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Teleportation is a good point. How could we possibly get a spaceship that close to a pulsar? Maybe our spaceship is made out of diamonds to begin with?
Hmm... It would be an ideal place for a planetary computer. You have a diamond, or maybe "metalic carbon" substrate for a planet the size of jupiter.
Then you have a pulsar clock, and powersource.
Perhaps that's really what we are looking at?
-Ben
It's just carbon (Score:2)
We have that shit here too.
Clarke strikes back (Score:2)
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Wow it exists? (Score:2)
Minecraft (Score:2)
You know when you've been playing too much Minecraft when you try to calculate how many pickaxes it would take to mine it, and how big of a diamond block castle you could construct with it.
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what took them so long? (Score:2)
Obligatory Floyd (Score:2)
Is this the plot of the next... (Score:2)
Diamonds are forever!!! (Score:2)
Seriously? No Vinge references? (Score:2)
Diamond iceberg (diamonbergs?) in fiction (Score:2)
A Jupiter Brain ? (Score:2)
It has been hypothesized (by Anders Sandberg [transhumanist.com] and others) that an advanced intelligence might convert a Jupiter sized mass into one large diamond computational substrate - a "Jupiter brain." Now this object is rather larger than Sandberg predicts :
"...a compact diamond structure would have a maximum radius on the order of 9760 km, somewhat larger than the Earth. Having the density doubles the possible radius and quadruples the mass, which suggests a trade-off between internal delays and computing power"
but t
"Good news everyone!" (Score:2)
Slartibartfast... (Score:2)
Update (Score:2)
Update - after further examination it has been revealed that the body in question is in fact a giant cubic zirconia.
what's a good replacement? (Score:2)
Yeah, yeah, diamonds aren't rare and we can even build them to whatever size in the lab.
But, what's a rock, that's not a diamond, that a girl's likely to be proud of (i.e. it looks pretty and is as expensive).
I know you can get rubies and what have you in any size, but they don't have the same marketing power. What I'm thinking of is a rock/mineral that's rare and primarily only known about by geologists.
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It wouldn't be sold in one piece. You can bank on that. Also, I bet ownership and "land" claims would be a really hot topic.
If it were feasible to get it to a nearby stable orbit and not wreck the Earth or any of our stuff in the process, then it would cost an immense amount at first. Prices would get progressively lower as the technology evolved to "mine" and transport the pieces. The market would reach its saturation point eventually, too.
Space diamonds would probably always cost more than diamonds origin
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If you get it to an orbit around earth, wouldn't it act like a more shiny moon? Or would it not sparkle?
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Well played. That was hilarious
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Probably very little because of its relative density. Diamond needs to be workable and light to be suitable for jewelry usage. This one is unlikely to be either, and even if it was workable, having a small ring that weighs kilograms, and earrings that rip your ears off don't make for good accessories.
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It would be worth exactly what you can get someone to pay for it. No less, no more.
Ask a stupid question...
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It would be worth exactly what you can get someone to pay for it. No less, no more.
Ask a stupid question...
It would cost whatever DeBeers wanted to charge for it.
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How much would a diamond the size of Jupiter be worth?
Do you want that in Flainian Pobble Beads, or Triganic Pu? [earthstar.co.uk]
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Now work out the cost of getting it out of the gravity well of that pulsar. I don't even think the Enterprise D could pull it away with a tractor beam.
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I don't even think the Enterprise D could pull it away with a tractor beam.
They would need to use a multi-phase tracker beam while diverting all power from the warp drive and most from life support. Perhaps even use a modified shuttle to create a warp bubble around the object to reduce its mass. Or they could just ask Q to do it.
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What they'd need is Wesley Crusher on board.
The little [expletive] can solve everything.
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TO be fair he IS supposed be the first person to take the next step in human evolution.......the Traveler thing and all..
The next step in human evolution is to be gay? Somehow I don't think that is going to work out...
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"Honey, I just found out that ring you gave me had diamonds in it! You told me they were cut glass! You liar, you cheat!"
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That was my first thought. How can I get this for my wife? We all know what a man's best friend is, and the women have it. A big diamond is one way to get it.
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We all know what a man's best friend is, and the women have it. A big diamond is one way to get it.
You're talking about dogs, right?
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Starkle, starkle, little twink
what the heck I are you think!
or
Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
How I wonder what you're at!
Up above the world you fly,
Like a tea-tray in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle--
THE COMMENTER HAS BEEN CLUBBED UNCONSCIOUS FOR YOUR SAFETY.
Stay calm and carry on!
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I'm in a starship. *whistle*
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I don't know about genius, but at least he could spell.
I suggest you buy a new Mac; the iOS-style spellchecker really comes in handy despite occasionally mangling perfectly corpulent words.
I do not think it means what you think it means.
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Newcastlejon's usage accurate, it embiggens me to say...
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Probably most important to note is that the abstract suggests a minimum density of 23 g cm-3. Wikipedia's value for diamond density is 3.5 g cm-3.
This object is close to an order of magnitude more dense then diamond. Interestingly (since I was looking things up) - Osmium, the densest naturally occurring element is 22.59 g cm-3 (at room temperature, according to wikipedia).
Of course, this object is a gravity well in it's own right so I really doubt it's very homogenous in composition.
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Just one quibble, "size" is a very generic term of measurement, it can apply to volume, mass, weight, whatever. Which it means is taken from the context of what is being measured. Dictionaries fall back on words like "magnitude" and "extent" to define "size."
So while your comment may be insightful, it is also incorrect.
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much closer than their charges would like them to be. But, gravity has won this contest
I tend to be rather skeptical of those who personify inanimate objects, but anthropomorphism of subatomic matter makes your arguments highly credible.
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You're missing something obvious - most of the star has gone so its gravity will be a lot less. Perhaps the core would revert to near normal matter under these cirumstances?
"Pulling it apart might be possible,"
Neutron star matter in turn makes white dwarf matter look like a wispy puff of h2. It could easily pull apart a white dwarf.