Diamond the size of Earth
In the papers yesterday, it was reported that scientists discovered a diamond the size of the earth only a matter of 17 light years away. I think they said it was formed after a star collapsed to become a white dwarf, and the carbon the star contained was compressed to the crystalline structure of diamond (giant covalent network solid :). Well, Arthur C. Clarke was sort of a visionary – his 2001 series mentioned Jupiter having a core of diamond. This is the next best thing I guess :). BTW, the gravity on a white star is heaps strong (another understatement), so it’s near impossible to land on it… that’s assuming you can actually reach a place 17 light years distant, of course.
7:27pm (GMT +10.00) 
