ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
ysabetwordsmith ([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith) wrote2024-07-31 10:04 pm

Diamond Planet

Mercury may have a 10-mile-thick layer of diamonds

Scientists using data from NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft have said Mercury may have a 10-mile-thick (16-km-thick) diamond layer beneath its crust. The scientists believe a subterranean magma ocean and the planet’s metal core crystallized under intense pressure. They said the ocean and core would have been saturated in carbon. And with the help of high pressure-temperature experiments, thermodynamic models and the most recent geophysical models of the internal structure of the planet, they determined Mercury was capable of producing a thick diamond layer.


I think I may have written about a diamond planet before. :D