Fed: Mother of all diamonds is over our heads

AAP General News (Australia)
02-17-2004
Fed: Mother of all diamonds is over our heads

CANBERRA, Feb 17 AAP - We can't see it, but the biggest known diamond in the universe
is somewhere above Australia.

US astrophysicists say they have found a 10-billion-trillion-trillion-carat gem, 50
light years away in the constellation Centaurus.

Described by US astrophysicist Travis Metcalfe as the mother of all diamonds, the cosmic
gem is a chunk of crystallised carbon in the core of a white dwarf star.

Australian scientist Vince Ford, a research officer at the Australian National University's
Mount Stromlo Observatory, said the massive rock was in the southern sky, near the Southern
Cross.

"This huge ... thing is sitting right down in the southern sky, in the constellation
of Centaurus, just near the Southern Cross," Mr Ford told ABC radio.

"All the good things seem to be in the south."

US astrophysicists said they found the diamond on Valentine's Day.

It is 4,000km across and weighs 2.27 million trillion trillion kilograms, which translates
to about 10 billion trillion trillion carats, or a one followed by 34 zeros.

The biggest diamond on earth is the 530-carat Star of Africa, which is located in the
British crown jewels.

"You can see every female listener's eyes going into orbit as you give that carat figure,"

Mr Ford said.

He said the massive diamond was the remainder of a burnt-out star.

"It's hit the stage when it's run out of heat, what's left there are a big pile of
cinders and metal and because of that high mass, the pressure in the core of it, gravity
pulling the star tighter and tighter has compressed the core down to the stage that where
the carbon in it has actually crystallised," Mr Ford said.

"And of course what you get when you crystalise carbon under high pressure is diamond.

"So here you have it, the world's biggest artificial diamond, or the universe's, I suspect."

AAP/PA sm/sp/drp/de

KEYWORD: SCI DIAMOND AUST

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