MessageToEagle.com – It’s often said that diamonds are a girl’s best friend. Whether this is true or not, is a matter of opinion. What we do know is true, is that there is a diamond in space that is bigger than our own planet, Earth.
Orbiting a star that is visible to the naked eye, 55 Cancri e is a planet that located only about 40 light years from Earth.
55 Cancri e is one of the most exotic alien worlds we have discovered so far.
Discovered in 2004, 55 Cancri e is moving so fast that a year there lasts a mere 18 hours.
We will never be able to visit this alien world because the temperature on the surface of 55 Cancri e is estimated to be as high as 2,700 degrees Celsius.
Artist’s impression of 55 Cancri e near its host star. Image credit: ESA/Hubble
What makes 55 Cancri e even more fascinating is that it’s a planet twice the size of our own made largely out of diamond!
See also:
55 Cancri e – Most Exotic World We Can Only Imagine
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55 Cancri e – First Detection Of Gases In Atmosphere Of Exotic Super-Earth
The surface of this planet is likely covered in graphite and diamond rather than water and granit and this is the reason why it’s often referred to as a “diamond planet”.
Diamond planets have been spotted before, but 55 Cancri e is the first planet that has been discovered orbiting a sun-like star.
55 Cancri e may be wetter and weirder than anyone imagined.
About a fifth of the planet’s mass must be made of light elements and compounds–including water. Given the intense heat and high pressure these materials likely experience, researchers think the compounds likely exist in a “supercritical” fluid state.
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