Picture of a carbon rich planet with diamonds and silica as the main mineral. Water carbide can transform a planet from a diamond-rich planet. In the interior, the main minerals will be diamond and silica (a layer of crystals in the picture). The main (dark blue) can be an iron-carbon alloy. Credit: Shim / ASU / Vectizi
Such as missions NASANo. Hubble Space Telescope, TESS, And as Kepler continues to provide insights into the properties of exoplanets, scientists are increasingly able to better understand what these planets look like, what they are, and whether they can or could inhabit. .
In a recently published new study Journal of Planetary Science, Arizona State University and a team of researchers University of Chicago Determined that some carbon-rich exoplanets, given the right circumstances, may be made of diamond and silica.
“This exoplanet is the opposite of anything in our solar system,” said Harrison Allen-Sutter, lead author of ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration.
An unlit carbon planet (left) transforms from silicon carbide dominant coating into silica and diamond dominated coating (right). The reaction also produces methane and hydrogen. Credit: Harrison / ASU
Diamond exoplanet formation
When stars and planets form, they do so with the same cloud of gas, so their bulk formations are similar. A star with a low carbon-to-oxygen ratio will have Earth-like planets, including silicates and oxides with very small diamond content (about 0.001% of the Earth’s diamond content).
But explanate carbon around stars with a higher carbon-to-oxygen ratio than our sun is more likely to be enriched. Chicago lawn-shooter and co-authors Emily Garhart, Kurt Lennenber and Dan Shim of ASU, along with Vitaly Prakapenka of the University of Chicago and Iran Greenberg, speculated that these carbon-rich exoplanets were present in water if (which is) in the universe. In which a diamond-rich composition was made.
In a diamond-anvil cell, two gem-quality single crystal diamonds are shaped into an anvil (flat top in the photo) and then facing each other. The samples are loaded between the culverts (flat surfaces), then the sample is compressed between the anvils. Credit: Shim / ASU
Diamond-anvils and X-rays
To test this hypothesis, the research team needed to simulate the interior of a carbide exoplanet using high temperatures and high pressures. To do this, they used high-pressure diamond-anvil cells in co-author Shimmy’s Lab for Earth and Planetary Materials.
First, they immersed the silicon carbide in water and pressed the sample between the diamonds at a very high pressure. Then, to monitor the reaction between silicon carbide and water, they conducted laser heating at the Argo National Laboratory in Illinois, taking X-ray measures, while heating the samples with laser-heating.
As they predicted, with more heat and pressure, the silicon carbide reacted with water and turned into diamond and silica.
This photo contains cylinder shaped dijects diamond anvil cells. The diamond-anvil cells are mounted in copper holders and then inserted into the synchrotron X-ray / laser beam path. The photo shows the diamond-envelope cells and mounts before being arranged for X-ray / laser experiments. Credit: Shim / ASU
Habitat and population
So far, we have not found life on other planets, but the search continues. Planetary scientists and astronomers are using space-equipped instruments in space and on Earth to find planets with the right properties and the right locations around their stars where life may exist.
The carbon-rich planets that are the focus of this study, however, do not have the necessary properties for life.
Since the Earth is geographically active (an indicator of habitat), the results of this study show that carbon-rich planets are very difficult to be geographically active and lack atmospheric composition. The atmosphere is crucial for life because it provides us with the pressure to breathe air, protect us from the harsh atmosphere of space and allow liquid water.
“This is an additional step in helping us understand and specialize in enhancing and improving exoplanet observations, regardless of habitat,” Allen-Sutter said. “The more we learn, the better, we will be able to interpret new data for future missions. James Webb Web Space Telescope And the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, to understand the world beyond our own solar system. “
Reference: H. Alan-Sutter, e. Garrett, K. Lenenweber, V. Prakapenka, e. Greenberg and S.H. “Ox oxidation of the interior of carbide exoplanets” by Shim, 26 August Gust 2020, Journal of Planetary Science.
DOI: 10.3847 / PSJ / ABAA3E
