[meteorite-list] Astronomers Find Diamond Dust In Deep Space

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:04:48 2004
Message-ID: <200205120522.WAA29289_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.astronomy.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/000/862oxije.asp
Diamonds Sprinkled About the Cosmos

A team of astronomers has found diamond dust in deep space.

by Paul Morledge
astronomy.com
May 12, 2002

A few astronomers have found some gems, literally, in the interstellar medium. In
fact, according to new research results reported in the June 10 issue of the
Astrophysical Journal Letters, diamonds dance among dust clouds that drift in
deep space.

Using the Hubble Space Telescope's Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and archival data
from the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE), a research team led by
astronomer Geoffrey Clayton of Louisiana State University detected a carbon
crystalline substance in dust clouds enshrouding newborn stars. The researchers
suspected the mystery substance might be diamond, so they compared the
ultraviolet signature of their sample to that of diamonds found in the belly of
some meteorites over a decade ago. The spectral data between the two samples was
such a tight match that Clayton and colleagues are confident that they have
locked on to interstellar diamonds.

Jewelers shouldn't get too excited, though, these interstellar diamonds probably
would not sparkle to the naked eye - they're only a few nanometers wide.

Astronomers believe these diamond grains, like so many other complex molecules in
space, were produced in the searing heat and extreme pressure of ancient
supernovae explosions. Some space rocks must have swept up the diamond dust as
our solar system was forming roughly 4.5 billion years ago, explaining the
diamond find in meteorites in the 1980s. Additional data shows that diamonds
exist in deep, dark space, not just in the exciting environs of stellar
nurseries.

With supernovae pumping out diamonds over the history of the galaxy, Clayton and
his team reasoned that they must be a common constituent of interstellar dust,
and might possibly account for five percent of the carbonaceous molecules in
space.

Based on this new discovery, Clayton estimates that the Milky Way alone may
contain trillions upon trillions of tons of diamonds.
Received on Sun 12 May 2002 01:22:14 AM PDT