Science Fiction writers are often tasked with creating fantastic worlds for their characters to explore. Some are covered with rich verdant forests, some with vast oceans, and some inhospitably frozen. But, with astronomers having discovered over 700 planets outside of our own solar system, we are beginning to learn that the reality of our galaxy is even more fantastic than those writers have dreamed.
Take for example the planet PSR J1719-1438b. This planet used to be part of a binary star whose pair exploded. PSR J1719-1438b was just far enough away from the explosion to avoid being consumed. The collapsed star became a pulsar, which sucked all the gaseous matter away from PSR, but leave the carbon core intact.
Why is this significant?
Well the carbon core of PSR J1719-1438b is slose enough to be affected by the super-gravity of it’s former partner. This has cause massive amounts of pressure to be exherted on the remaining matter over tens of thousands of years. Remember how most of that matter is carbon?
That’s right. PSR J1719-1438b is made entirely out of diamond.
Via Inewp.com
But don’t get too excited about launching a mining expedition yet. The radiation generated by the pulsar is more than enough to turn the human body into a pile of glowing green goo. Assuming the pressure doesn’t crush you into a tiny diamond first.
