Quantcast
ZME Science
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
Home Space

The star-diamond

Mihai Andrei by Mihai Andrei
November 12, 2021
in Space
Reading Time: 1 min read
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSubmit to Reddit

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky!

Well maybe the title is a bit far fetched, but I’m really stoked to find out about such a thing; the star in case, BPM 37093 is a variable white dwarf star that consists entirely of crystallized carbon, in the form of diamonds (well, technically speaking, body-centered cubic lattice of carbon; basically, crystallized in the cubic system).

Previous research had indicated that as a white dwarf cools, it crystallizes, starting from the center, and more recent work shows that about 90% of its mass has already done so, making it technically the biggest diamond we know of, at about 10 billion trillion trillion carats.

Astrophysicists nicknamed the star Lucy, after The Beatles song Lucy in the sky with diamonds. Man, you just gotta love astrophysicists.

Sorry to interrupt, but you should really...

...Join the ZME newsletter for amazing science news, features, and exclusive scoops. More than 40,000 subscribers can't be wrong.

   

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Tags: crystaldiamondstar
ShareTweetShare
Mihai Andrei

Mihai Andrei

Andrei's background is in geophysics, and he's been fascinated by it ever since he was a child. Feeling that there is a gap between scientists and the general audience, he started ZME Science -- and the results are what you see today.

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • More

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.