The last time the world heard about diamonds in space, they were
fake diamonds. Now the universe has a planet packed with diamonds - real ones. For the first time in history, astronomers have discovered a carbon-rich planet in our universe. The planet itself was discovered a year ago, but its properties are only now being analyzed. WASP-12b’s chemical properties are absolutely different than that of Earth’s and any other planet in our Solar System. It is the first planet that is known to have a higher composition of carbon than oxygen, a chemical makeup that lends itself to an abundance of
diamonds.
Nikku Madhusudhan, a graduate of the infamous Massachusetts Institute of Technology and now a postdoctoral scholar at Princeton University in New Jersey, led an astronomical team in the assessment of the planet’s composition. The scientists disclosed their findings yesterday in Nature journal and several interviews.
The planet, WASP-12b, orbits approximately 1,200 light years away from our planet and was found by the Wide-Angle Search for Planets (WASP) project, an initiative funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council. The WASP telescope that caught the astonishing planet is located on the island of La Palma and was in use by a team of UK’s leading astronomers and planet discoverers at the time of the planet’s discovery.
Their findings were surprising and refreshing. The planet is characterized by a low concentration of oxygen and a carbon-dominated environment. Its size is being compared to that of Jupiter’s, although it is larger than the behemoth that resides in our Solar System. Also similar to Jupiter, WASP-12b is a gaseous planet, made primarily of gas. What is most interesting about the planet is that its core is comprised of carbon-based minerals, including the rare-to-Earth diamond and graphite.
Unlike Earth, which is rich in oxygen and has much smaller quantities of carbon, the planet WASP-12b is dominated by carbon and depleted in oxygen. The scientists also found the temperatures on the face of the planet are consistently about 4,200 degrees Fahrenheit (2,300 degrees Celsius) even though one side of the planet is always hidden from the sun and is always dark while the other permanently faces it. However, the planet is able to sustain a uniform temperature due to its high wind speeds, which cause a distribution of energy and heat.
The diamond planet sits astonishingly close to its star that it takes it a mere 26 hours to circle it, as compared with the 365 days Earth requires to orbit its star, the sun. The finding points to the existence of planets with compositions very different from those of our own Solar System and will “motivate researchers to study what carbon-rich planets are made of”, said Madhusudhan.
Undoubtedly, the discovery of WASP-12b will prompt eagerness to find more planets of its kind. The fact that it exists already is a testament to the assumption that there are probably more planets with similar qualities to be found.
