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Diamonds From Space

Recent experiments conducted by Robin Benedetti, a graduate student in physics at the University of California at Berkeley, show that diamonds the size of boulders probably exist on Neptune and Uranus. In the lab, Benedetti's team created diamond crystals about 10 microns long--about the thickness of a human hair--by squeezing methane gas in an "anvil" and heating it with a laser beam. Methane is known to exist in large quantities on Neptune and Uranus. Don't get out your mining equipment yet: "Nothing we could build would be able to withstand [the planets' harsh environment] and get back," says Benedetti. Read more about this fascinating find in this story from Space.com.

Tue, 16 Nov 1999 13:35:03 -0800