The Smithsonian Institution owns one of the largest and most expensive diamonds in the world. The Hope Diamond, which is approximately 45.552 carats weight and estimated to be worth around $400 million dollars. This was originally owned by Tavenier Louis XIV of France Henry Philip Hope. If you think this is a mind-blowing fact, can you imagine a planet full of diamonds?
Astronomers have discovered a planet that is orbiting a sun like star called 55 cancri (Also known as Rho Cancri). It is located just at the end of the Y-shaped constellation Cancer and is about 40 light-years away from Earth.
Astronomers have estimated that planet 55 Cancri e has a radius double the size of Earth’s radius (3959 miles) and that it is 8 times more massive than Earth, and because of this it is also been dubbed “Super-Earth”! After studying the planet is composed of atleast 1/3 of carbon, which is the core component of diamonds. They further revealed that its surface is mostly made up of graphite, underneath a thick layer of diamond. The diamond layer is over a deep layer of silicon-based minerals with molten core of iron.
The diamond composition on this planet is equivalent to 3 times the mass of the Earth! Researchers at Yale University estimated that this planet is estimated to value about a whopping $26.9 nonillion (30 zeros after 26.9). To get some human perspective to this number, the world’s GDP according to the World Bank is only about 142 Trillion (source: Statista 2019) USD, which has only 12 zeros.
