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London, Dec 9 : A team of astronomers, led by an Indian-origin boffin, has discovered the first carbon-rich planet, orbiting a star 1,200 light-years away, which could have an interior abundant in diamonds.
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 finding points to the existence of planets with compositions very different from those of our own Solar System.
The planet was originally found last year by the Wide-Angle Search for Planets (WASP) project, the UK’s leading team of planet discoverers, using the WASP telescope in La Palma funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council.
Now Nikku Madhusudhan and colleagues of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have further observed WASP-12b with NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and found that its atmosphere is dominated by molecules containing carbon.
“This is new territory and will motivate researchers to study what carbon-rich planets are made of”, said Madhusudhan. “Although WASP-12b is a hot, Jupiter-sized ‘gas giant’ planet that would not have a surface, smaller rock planets could also form in such planetary systems”.
www.news18.com
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That also means, diamond prices will drop very sharply...:thup:
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 finding points to the existence of planets with compositions very different from those of our own Solar System.
The planet was originally found last year by the Wide-Angle Search for Planets (WASP) project, the UK’s leading team of planet discoverers, using the WASP telescope in La Palma funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council.
Now Nikku Madhusudhan and colleagues of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have further observed WASP-12b with NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and found that its atmosphere is dominated by molecules containing carbon.
“This is new territory and will motivate researchers to study what carbon-rich planets are made of”, said Madhusudhan. “Although WASP-12b is a hot, Jupiter-sized ‘gas giant’ planet that would not have a surface, smaller rock planets could also form in such planetary systems”.
Astronomers find diamond-studded planet - News18
Astronomers have discovered a giant planet with an atmosphere and core dominated by carbon.
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That also means, diamond prices will drop very sharply...:thup:
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