An illustration of 55 Cancri e shows a surface of mostly graphite surrounding a thick layer of diamond.
“The universe just got a bit richer with the discovery of an apparent diamond-rich planet orbiting a nearby star.” from National Geographic Daily News.
This diamond planet is 55 Cancri e(abbreviated 55 Cnc e), an extrasolar planet orbiting the Sun-like star 55 Cancri A. Its mass is about 7.8 Earth masses and its diameter is about twice that of Earth's, thus classifying it as the first Super-Earth discovered around a main sequence star, predating Gliese 876 d by a year.
It takes less than 18 hours to complete an orbit and is the innermost known planet in its planetary system. 55 Cancri e was discovered on August 30, 2004. However, until the 2010 observations and recalculations, this planet had been thought to take about 2.8 days to orbit the star. And now it was announced that 55 Cancri e could be a carbon planet.
Dubbed 55 Cancri e, the rocky world is only twice the size of Earth but has eight times its mass—classifying it as a “super Earth,” a new study says. First detected crossing in front of its parent star in 2011, the close-in planet orbits its star in only 18 hours. As a result, surface temperatures reach an uninhabitable 3,900 degrees Fahrenheit (2,150 degrees Celsius)—which, along with carbon, make perfect conditions for creating diamonds. For more details, turn to National Geographic News
