Planet Made of Diamond: Is There Fort Knox In Space?

Imagine a celestial body gleaming in the depths of the Universe, not with the cold, reflected light of a distant sun but with the dazzling brilliance of… diamonds. A veritable cosmic treasury, like Fort Knox, just as alluring, just as impregnable. Could such a wonder exist? Is a planet made of diamonds a reality or merely a fantasy of cosmic dreamers? Let’s find out.

Is There a Planet Made of Diamonds?

The history of a fascinating hypothesis about the existence of a diamond planet began in 2004 with the discovery of an exoplanet called 55 Cancri e. The unique celestial body was found at a distance of about 40 light-years away from us in the constellation of Cancer, in the planetary system of a sun-like star – yellow dwarf 55 Cancri.

Planet 55 Cancri e is twice the size of Earth and eight times more massive. It’s classified as a super earth and located incredibly close to the host star, completing a full orbit of it in just 18 hours. That is, a year on this planet lasts less than a day on Earth. In addition, the planet is tidally locked, meaning that only one its side permanently faces the star, just like one hemisphere of the Moon faces the Earth. The temperature on the dayside reaches 2,700 degrees Celsius! Imagine this scorching world where the surface melts from the unbearable heat. It is these extreme conditions that lead to the hypothesis of a “diamond planet”.

Initial data obtained using the radial velocity method (measuring the oscillations of a star caused by the gravitational influence of a planet) indicated that 55 Cancri e had a high density (about 6.66 g/cm³) and an abundance of carbon. A research team led by astrophysicist Nikku Madhusudhan from Yale University hypothesized that high temperature and pressure on the planet would cause carbon to crystallize into diamonds. 55 Cancri e was believed to be covered in a thick crust of diamonds and graphite, making up a third of its mass!

This hypothesis, published in 2012, instantly made 55 Cancri e famous, dubbing it the diamond planet. The idea of ​​a planet with diamonds twice the size of Earth seemed incredible but plausible.

How Much Is the Diamond Planet Worth?

In 2012, Forbes estimated the worth of Diamond Planet at $26.9 nonillion. Peter Cohen, the author of the Forbes study, determined the planet’s value as follows: he multiplied the mass of the Earth in kilograms by 3 and then multiplied the resulting number by the cost of 1 kg of rough diamonds ($1.5 million). As a result, he got a figure followed by 30 zeros. To understand how large it is, imagine one grain of sand. To get the number of grains equal to a nonillion, you would need so many of them that you could:

• cover the entire surface of the Earth with a layer of sand several kilometers thick.
• create a mountain of sand that would be much higher than Everest and cover an area comparable to an entire country.

Of course, if we got such a quantity of diamonds, their price would sharply drop since they would cease to be a rarity. However, we hardly need to worry about this in the next few decades.

Diamond Myth Busting

Unfortunately, subsequent studies have made adjustments to the “diamond” hypothesis. In 2013, a group of astronomers from Arizona State University led by Johanna Teske used the Spitzer, Hubble, and MOST space telescopes to conduct observations and discovered that the star 55 Cancri contains more oxygen than carbon, which reduces the likelihood of diamond formation on the planet. The James Webb Space Telescope also detected that 55 Cancri e has already lost its original atmosphere (possibly due to intense star radiation) and formed a new one, supposedly consisting of helium and hydrogen. This discovery casts doubt on the assumption of a purely diamond composition of the planet.

Later, in 2016, researchers suggested that 55 Cancri e may be covered with a layer of liquid lava, which also disproves the diamond planet hypothesis.

Yet, even though the “diamond” hypothesis of the 55 Cancri e planet turned out to be untenable, it has not lost its significance. It showed how diverse and amazing worlds outside the solar system can be.

The Other “Diamond” Candidates

55 Cancri e is not the only contender for the cosmic Fort Knox. There are other diamond planets. In 2010 and 2011, astronomers suggested the presence of diamonds on the exoplanets WASP-12b and PSR J1719-1438 b. WASP-12b is a hot gas giant almost twice Jupiter’s size, located 870 light-years away in the constellation of Auriga. PSR J1719-1438 b is a super earth, a companion to the PSR J1719−1438 pulsar in the constellation of Serpens, 4,000 light-years away. Research suggests that these planets may have significant amounts of carbon in their atmospheres, which can turn into diamonds or other crystalline forms under pressure.

It’s also believed that diamonds can form in the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune and even fall as rain on Saturn and Jupiter! In a nutshell, the diamond rush in space continues!

Seeking the Jewels of the Cosmos

The story of the unfulfilled diamond planet 55 Cancri e reminds us of the importance of continuing research without making hasty conclusions. Even if this exoplanet did not meet the expectations of “diamond” enthusiasts, it expanded our understanding of the nature of planets and opened up new horizons in space exploration. Somewhere in the vast expanses of the Universe, there might be more than one planet made of diamond. And who knows, maybe humanity will be able to take these cosmic Fort Knoxes someday.

References and Additional Information

• Diamond planets are forever https://www.soci.org/chemistry-and-industry/cni-data/2012/11/diamond-planets-are-forever 
• Where is our solar system’s super-Earth? https://www.astronomy.com/science/where-is-our-solar-systems-super-earth/ 
• Super-Earth | Definition, Life, Types, & Facts https://www.britannica.com/topic/super-Earth 
• 55 Cancri e: Super-Hot Super-Earth https://www.space.com/37654-exoplanet-55-cancri-e-facts.html 
• Super-Earth Exoplanet 55 Cancri e (Artist’s Concept) https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2024/102/01HWQWN21X8Q7H2W4VX7FVKT1R 
• Diamond “super-Earth” may not be quite as precious as once https://www.astronomy.com/science/diamond-super-earth-may-not-be-quite-as-precious-as-once-thought 
• Diamond Planets – California Academy of Sciences https://www.calacademy.org/explore-science/diamond-planets 
• Everything We Know About The Planet Made Of Diamonds https://www.slashgear.com/838878/everything-we-know-about-the-planet-made-of-diamonds/