Imagine climbing diamond mountains, or hiking around the graphite shores of a lake of tar. Sound a little sci-fi? Well a new discovery suggests planets like that might be out there—planets [--1--] with carbon minerals, instead of the oxygen-rich silicates, like quartz, that cover the Earth. Because astronomers have found the first carbon-rich exoplanet, with more carbon than oxygen in its atmosphere—instead of the 1 to 2 carbon to oxygen [--2--] found in our solar system.
The exoplanet, called WASP 12 b, is a gas giant, like Jupiter. By taking the spectrum of heat radiating from the planet, the researchers found that the planet's atmosphere was [--3--] carbon, in the form of carbon monoxide and methane. The study appears in the journal Nature.
The finding suggests one commonly accepted model of planetary formation, where icy chunks [--4--] a core, wouldn't work here. Instead the core may have formed from carbon-rich fragments, like tar. But more than that, this unusual planet is more proof of the diversity of the universe—and it makes those dreams of diamond planets a tiny bit more [--5--].
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