Blog

Astronomers success excel when they discover/explore something of/about a new planet. But this time they’ve discovered something extraordinary, something that goes beyond their imagination. Yep! You’ve heard right. Scientists at Yale University have discovered a new planet near Earth in the space which they believe, consists of Diamond. The planet is being called “55 Cancri e.” Get the details of this planet inside.

The Diamond Planet is officially known as 55 Cancri e which is also being called a super-earth. But why the planet’s official name is 55 Cancri e? Well, it’s because the planet orbits the binary star 55 Cancri. 55 Cancri is located in the constellation of Cancer.

The planet’s sun Cancri 55 A is a little bigger than our sun and the actual diamond planet has twice the radius of Earth, eight times the mass.

New research says the planet has no water; rather it has a surface temperature of 3,900 degrees Fahrenheit (2,150 Celsius). The planet orbits around its star every 18 hours.

The planet 55 Cancri e is 40 light years from Earth. 55 Cancri e is made of diamonds because the binary star system itself is primarily comprises Carbon, Iron, and Silicon — and over millions of years of pressure and heat, the planet’s Carbon mantle has slowly turned into diamond. According to Yale scientists one third of 55 Cancri e’s mass consists of diamond which is equivalent to three Earth masses (roughly 18 × 1024 kg). Scientists are assuming that there might be few trillion times more diamond than the Earth has.

After finding this Diamond planet scientists are assuming that there might be millions of diamond planets in the universe. They also believe that there could be other planets in space like water planets, gold planets, uranium planets etc and each may have very different atmospheres, biologies, and geological/tectonic characteristics.

Source : Yale

[ttjad keyword=”graphics-cards”]