Rare Particle Discovery Dims Hopes for Exotic Theories

Physicists have measured an extremely rare particle decay inside the world's largest atom smasher — a discovery that bolsters the leading model of particle physics and leaves little room for undiscovered particles beyond this theory.

Discovery of a diamond planet

A new planet, made of a material alike to diamond ultradense, was discovered by a group of Australian scientists. It could be the most valuable rock sighted but never too far from the reach of explorer’s golddigger. At about 400,000 light years from Earth, the planet is located about one-eighth of the distance that separates us from the center of the Milky Way. Believed to be the only remnant of what was once a giant star in our own Milky Way.

That star, is now a pulsar, a type of neutron star characterized by very intense emit radiation, which was discovered in 2009. Its diameter is only 20 kilometers. Australian scientists found that the radiation was interrupted every two hours and 10 minutes, a sign that another celestial body orbiting around it. After observation with large telescopes in the UK and Hawaii (USA), discover the new planet.

Brightness

The planet appears to be smaller than Jupiter but has more mass. The scientists, who published their discovery in the journal Science, believe it is the densest planet ever discovered and composed mainly of carbon. Because it is so dense, scientists believe that carbon must be crystalline, so a large part of this exotic diamond planet would.

His theory is that high environmental pressure caused his core crystallized carbon into diamond. What is not clear is how she should look closely watched. Ben Stappers of the University of Manchester told Reuters that can only speculate: "I imagine that there would be a picture of a very shiny object."

The Universe

Galactic survey

At the beginning of the mission, Spitzer will hold a series of imaging surveys in the mid and far infrared. Census Deep and a small region of space, including one centered on the Hubble Deep Field (English) , study the young and distant universe with redshifts of about 5, which corresponds to about 12 billion years.