The Biggest Diamond Ever Found In Space!

Deep down in the Pattern of Centarus lies a star about 50 light years far from the Earth. This star is so distinctive that astrophysicists nicknamed it “Lucy.” Lucy, also identified as V886Centauri and BPM 37093, is just a white dwarf star. As many of you might know, a white dwarf is the hot residue left behind when a star consumes all of its nuclear fuel and expires. It is made generally of carbon and oxygen and encircled by a thin layer of hydrogen and helium gases. 

In 1992 it was learned that Lucy pulsates as an outcome of its core temperature reducing below 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit (6,600 Celsius). And in 1995 researchers decided to use Lucy for a testing. They needed to see what she was made of. The experiment was to custom the pulsation of the star to understand if the crystallization concept was accurate. The procedure that was used is termed as “Asteroseismology” or “Stellar Seismology,” which usages the star’s frequency spectra to conclude what the structure of the star is. Basically, it is the similar way that geologists study the interior of the Earth through earthquakes.

Lucy is also the bigger diamond ever found. Researchers had found that about 90% of Lucy’s mass must crystallized, and since Lucy’s inner core is mostly made of Carbon, it can only mean one thing. At 10 billion trillion trillion carats, not merely is this diamond ever…it squeezes the last diamond to grip the record. It is speculated that our Sun will one day go over the same stage. After it explodes its external shell and turn into a white dwarf, it also will crystallize and live out its end of days in remarkable form, celebrating its own Diamond Jubilee.