![]() The dwarf is orbiting a pulsar - a rapidly rotating neutron star - known by the charismatic moniker PSR J2222-0137. Instead, teams inferred the presence of the crystallized dwarf based on the way its gravity perturbs the normally steady radio pulses coming from a spinning companion star. In fact, it’s so cool and dim that it can’t even be seen - its feeble light isn’t nearly powerful enough to pierce the darkness of the cosmos, even from relatively nearby. The diamond-star, described in a study published in The Astrophysical Journal, is among the coldest white dwarfs astronomers have found. But this isn’t just any old diamond hiding in space: It’s the size of Earth, and it’s 11 billion years old. About 900 light-years away, an ancient white dwarf star has cooled into a crystallized chunk of carbon - a diamond.
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