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General Category => Discover Seattle! => Topic started by: TehBorken on Jan 06 07 07:34

Title: Diamond Star
Post by: TehBorken on Jan 06 07 07:34
 Frickin cool- a whole star made of diamond.
[hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"][a href="vny!://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3492919.stm"]vny!://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3492919.stm[/a]

A while ago, astronomers have discovered a star made of 10 billion trillion trillion carats of diamond. [blockquote][em]The huge cosmic diamond - technically known as BPM 37093 - is actually a crystallised white dwarf. A white dwarf is the hot core of a star, left over after the star uses up its nuclear fuel and dies. It is made mostly of carbon.[/em][/p] [em]For more than four decades, astronomers have thought that the interiors of white dwarfs crystallised, but obtaining direct evidence became possible only recently.[/em][/p][em](//image/diamond-star.jpg)
[/em][/p] [em]The white dwarf is not only radiant but also rings like a gigantic gong, undergoing constant pulsations.[/em][/p] [em]"By measuring those pulsations, we were able to study the hidden interior of the white dwarf, just like seismograph measurements of earthquakes allow geologists to study the interior of the Earth.[/em][/p] [em]"We figured out that the carbon interior of this white dwarf has solidified to form the galaxy's largest diamond," says Metcalfe. [/em] [/p] [/blockquote]
 
Title: Re: Diamond Star
Post by: P.C. on Jan 06 07 10:36
I guess if one of those fell to earth, it would deflate the price of diamonds ?  How many tennis bracelets can you GET out of a White Dwarf ?
Title: Re: Diamond Star
Post by: Lise on Jan 06 07 10:38
THAT is so cool!! When can I get one?
Title: Re: Diamond Star
Post by: kingy on Jan 06 07 07:21
you can probably get one in about 7 billions years...

  Astronomers expect our Sun will become a white dwarf when it dies 5 billion years from now. Some two billion years after that, the Sun's ember core will crystallise as well, leaving a giant diamond in the centre of the solar system.
Title: Re: Diamond Star
Post by: P.C. on Jan 06 07 11:05
.....and no one left to worship and adore it.
Title: Re: Diamond Star
Post by: Gopher on Jan 07 07 11:09
Lise wrote:
 THAT is so cool!! When can I get one? ....

 

 Play your cards right and I'll ascend into space and get it for you.


 
Title: Re: Diamond Star
Post by: Lise on Jan 07 07 11:10
Ooooooooh................................. now that's an offer I can't refuse, Gophie. (//vny!://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Love/2.gif)
Title: Re: Diamond Star
Post by: Gopher on Jan 07 07 11:11
What? Another one?