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        New Message Board Archives >> Jan-Mar 2004 >> You think your diamond is big, gals?
        
(Message started by: notseinfeld on Feb 13^th, 2004, 8:26pm)

Title: You think your diamond is big, gals?
Post by notseinfeld on Feb 13^th, 2004, 8:26pm

OT: This should make even Liz Taylor a little envious:

Astronomers spy 10 billion trillion trillion-carat diamond

The Associated Press
Last Updated 1:16 p.m. PST Friday, February 13, 2004

LOS ANGELES (AP) - If anyone's ever promised you the sun, the moon and the stars, tell 'em you'll settle for BPM 37093.

The heart of that burned-out star with the no-nonsense name is a sparkling diamond that weighs a staggering 10 billion trillion trillion carats. That's one followed by 34 zeros.

The hunk of celestial bling is an estimated 2,500 miles across, said Travis Metcalfe, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

"You would need a jeweler's loupe the size of the sun to grade this diamond," said Metcalfe, who led the team that discovered the gem.

The diamond is a massive chunk of crystallized carbon that lies about 300 trillion miles from Earth, in the constellation Centaurus.

The galaxy's largest diamond is formally known as a white dwarf, or the hot core of a dead sun.

Astronomers have suspected for decades that white dwarfs crystallized, but only recently were able to verify the hypothesis.

A paper detailing the discovery has been submitted to The Astrophysical Journal Letters for publication.