Star turns into a diamond planet

Astronomers have discovered a planet in our galaxy of diamond. The small satellite has a higher density than any previously known planet.

Astronomers have discovered a star that was umwgewandelt and compacted to a planet - probably in large part from diamond. The unusual Trabant had a far greater density than any other planet tracked says an international team of researchers at Bonn participation in the U.S. journal "Science."

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The precious planet orbiting a star is also unusual, called a pulsar. Pulsars are burnt out suns, which are collapsed into itself. You send a focused beam of radio waves into space that sweeps regularly with the rotation of the stellar corpse on the ground.

The pulsar-planet pair is located about 4,000 light years away in the constellation of the Serpent (Serpens). A light year is the distance that light travels in one year, and corresponds to almost ten trillion kilometers. The planet was found with the 64-meter Parkes radio telescope in Australia.
What you should know about the cosmos

Is the universe infinite?

The cosmologists can not say for sure. Maybe so, according to new measurements, it has a diameter of at least 155 billion light years (in kilometers: 155 followed by 22 zeros). In any case, it is unlimited as a ball: you can move on her endlessly, without encountering a border. The shape of the universe, is unclear, a case for some form of a bean.

How far "out there" were we?

Equipped with visual and digital information about the earth and the human spacecraft "Voyager1" is located about 15 billion kilometers, thus leaving just up our solar system. It is located just where the solar wind, the deadly cosmic radiation slows down and distracted.

Are we alone in the cosmos?

So far been no evidence of life beyond Earth. There are two theories. One says: intelligent life is extremely unlikely, because to many conditions must be met. Moreover, the universe is billions of years old civilizations, however, perhaps only several thousand years old before they go under. Collect their signals is due to the narrow time window, extremely unlikely. Other researchers say: There are billions of planets, somewhere there should be too complex life.

How dangerous are asteroids?

Especially in the early days of the solar system many large asteroids are stamped on the earth. Since then the incidence has declined steadily. More trade was wiped out by asteroids, most of the animal and plant species. Currently, the researchers expect all 50 to 1000 years inflicts a strike, the local destruction. Every 100,000 years it is expected an impact, the civilization "zurückbombt in the Stone Age." Asteroid theory, could be a probe that bears a nuclear bomb to distract from the Earth's orbit.

What is the end of the earth?

The sun is always shining stronger and expands it. In about two billion years, therefore, the surface temperature of Earth will be at 100 degrees. Finally they swallow Mercury and Venus and the Earth's surface transformed into an ocean of lava.

Why the stars are round?

All the stars, in particular, our Sun and all planets and moons are clustered together under the influence of the attraction of its own mass into a ball. That is the lowest energy and most stable form. However, this is only approximate. Because rotating planet like Earth, are flattened by the centrifugal forces in logistics at the equator something. The diameter of the Earth is between the poles less than 40 kilometers at the equator.

Black holes are dangerous?

Theoretically yes, practically no. Our solar system rotates initially at a safe distance around a black hole that sits in the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way. But this black hole sucks but gradually the surrounding matter to himself - billions of years in our solar system. But then life on Earth will be long gone.

What is dark energy?

An exact explanation for this has been a scientist at hand, yet it is certain that there is the so-called dark energy. She is responsible for ensuring that the stars in the universe fly apart faster and faster. Actually, it was assumed that the expansion of the universe after the Big Bang slowed by the gravitational attraction. Measurements showed, however: they accelerated. For the quasi-anti-gravity of dark energy is responsible.

Life came from outer space?

Researchers have actually discovered biomolecules in space - including amino acids. Therefore, there is the theory that molecules from space that came to Earth with asteroids, the origin of life have influenced. But this is not proven.

In the signal of the recently discovered pulsar PSR J1719-1438, astronomers discovered the characteristic fluctuations, indicating a massive companion. From careful analysis of these periodic fluctuations, the researchers conclude that this satellite is about half as big as the planet Jupiter in our solar system orbiting the pulsar and very quickly: One orbit lasts only two hours and ten minutes. Thus, the Planet of the pulsar are so close that its gravity would tear him actually.
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Obviously it is a very compact, supermassive object. "The density of the planet is at least as high as that of platinum," said the head of the research team, Professor Matthew Bailes of Swinburne University of Technology (Australia) in a statement.

The research team believes that the planet is the tiny core of a once massive star that is only narrowly escaped complete destruction. It could only be regarded as a so-called white dwarf, which has lost 99.9 percent of its mass to the pulsar.

The remaining core probably consists mainly of carbon and oxygen in crystalline form. Diamonds are special, highly dense carbon crystals. A large part of the planet is therefore likely to be built like a diamond conclude the researchers.