Thursday, March 20, 2008

Latest Spitzer News

No, not that Spitzer, the IMPORTANT one, NASA's Space Telescope - named after Dr. Lyman Spitzer, Jr., the first scientist to propose putting high-powered scopes in space.  Anyway, here's the news:

The super-sensitive infrared eyes of Spitzer have picked up billions and billions of DIAMONDS in space, so rare on earth.  Although tinier than a grain of sand, their presence in space could help provide valuable insights into how carbon-rich molecules develop in the cosmos.  CARBON is the basis for life on earth.

                  

They could looksomething like this.  Diamonds are formed deep inside the earth under emmense pressure and high temperatures, while space diamonds are found in cold, molecular clouds where pressure are billions of times lower, and temperatures reach -400 F.  Very different!

This discovery can teach us about how the basic ingredients for life as we know it formed in space. 

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Some details courtesy of Spitzer Science Center, NASA.

 

 

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

"The important one"...LOL, you've got that right!  How interesting about the space diamonds.  Amazing the same thing can be created in such extreme environments.
Lisa

Anonymous said...

very interesting

Anonymous said...

Aye, to think that diamonds are a sophisticated form of soot lol

Anonymous said...

I'd rather read about this Spitzer any day!

be well,
Dawn
http://journals.aol.com/princesssaurora/CarpeDiem/

Anonymous said...

Interesting.... glad you wrote about the Important Spitzer!!!

Joann

Anonymous said...

My question is ... when does it start raining diamonds? <grin>

Caregivingly Yours, Patrick
http://journals.aol.com/daddyleer/CaregivinglyYours/
http://lairofcachalot.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Wow - how interesting!

I, too, would love to see a shower of diamonds raining down on us.  Not because diamonds are a cherished gem here, but simply because it would be so beautiful to see them spinning and refracting the light as they fell!  Rainbows everywhere!

Anonymous said...

I love coming to your journal to be educated.  I didn't know that.

These diamonds appear to have been created by the reverse scientific processes of the earth ones.  Amazing!  
Jeanie  xxx