Astronomers have found the remains of a once-massive star which has now transformed into a solid diamond five times bigger than Earth. This planet circles a pulsing companion star about 4,000 light years from Earth in the constellation Serpens which is about one-eighth of the way toward the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
Astronomers have also noticed that the steady pulses of energy coming from the star which is known as J1719-1438 were minutely disturbed which is caused by the gravitational tug of another smaller object. Scientists were able to figure out how far away this second object is from the star and from the light it was reflecting off were able to say that it was a smaller planet than the star and had a diamond core.
Astronomers said that the companion to J1719-1438 star never got big enough to produce elements much heavier than carbon, so after its lighter-weight hydrogen and helium were stripped away that would leave a solid core of carbon which eventually turned into a giant diamond.
Astronomers said that the diamond will more more denser than that at Earth due to the immense pressure. The system is now stable, with no evidence that it will change for billions of years.
[Discovery]