Astronomers who discovered an alien planet in 2004 released new information about the planet’s composition on Thursday. The planet, called 55 Cancri e, is a “super-Earth” surrounding a sun-like star called 55 Cancri. According to scientists, the planet is made mostly of diamond.
According to MSNBC, the planet is composed of carbon—in the form of diamond and graphite—, silicon carbide, iron and potentially silicates. 55 Cancri e’s mass is believed to be at least a third diamond, the report stated.
Lead researcher Nikku Madhusudhan of Yale University said, “This is our first glimpse of a rocky world with a fundamentally different chemistry from Earth. The surface of this planet is likely covered in graphite and diamond rather than water and granite.”
Madhusudhan also spoke to National Geographic and said, “It’s the first time we know of such an exotic planet that we think was born mostly of carbon—which really makes this a fundamental game-changer in our understanding of what’s possible in planetary chemistry.”
The planet, which has a radius twice as wide as Earth’s, is the first “diamond planet” identified around a sun-like star, MSNBC reported. Study co-author and Yale geophysicist Kanani Lee told MSNBC, “By contrast, Earth’s interior is rich in oxygen, but extremely poor in carbon—less than a part in thousands by mass.”
The “diamond planet” takes 18 hours to complete a full orbit and has surface temperatures reaching a blazing 3,900 degrees Fahrenheit (2,100 degrees Celsius), MSNBC reported. Previous studies, which were based on the idea that the planet was similar to Earth, suggested that the planet was covered “with oozing ‘supercritical fluids.’” Madhusudhan said that new findings suggest there is no water on the planet.
According to MSNBC, 55 Cancri e is one of five planets surrounding the star 55 Cancri, which is about 40 light-years from Earth. Researchers plan to continue making follow-up observations to better understand the planets composition.
The new findings from the 55 Cancri e study will be published in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters.