EPISODE · May 4, 2018 · 31 MIN
Episode 05: Diamonds from Space!
from syzygy · host Chris Stewart
Syzygy is produced by Chris Stewart and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden from the Department of Physics at the University of York.Find us on Twitter: @syzygypod twitter.com/SyzygyPodOr just visit us at home: syzygy.fmEmily at the University of York: www.york.ac.uk/physics/people/brunsden/Chris online: kipstewart.comSome of the things we talk about in this episode:TESS mission: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3niFzo5VLIThe nanodiamond meteorite paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-03808-6Guardian article on the story: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/apr/17/diamonds-in-sudan-meteorite-are-remnants-of-lost-planetThe Asteroid Belt: https://www.universetoday.com/32856/asteroid-belt/Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, lizardy sock puppet: https://youtu.be/MLtlcSR9A6MNanodiamonds: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NanodiamondSolar System formation: http://hubblesite.org/hubble_discoveries/discovering_planets_beyond/how-do-planets-formSolar System formation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhy1fucSRQITheia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theia_(planet)Meteorite 2008 TC3: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/meteorites-found-from-asteroid-2008-tc3/Exploding meteor over Russia in 2013: https://youtu.be/fBLjB5qavxY https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/11/131106-russian-meteor-chelyabinsk-airburst-500-kilotons/Meteortites stand out in the desert: https://www.universetoday.com/89656/the-asteroid-that-fell-to-earth-meteorites-from-2008-tc3-still-giving-up-their-secrets/Meteorites on eBay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.Xmeteorite.TRS0&_nkw=meteorite&_sacat=0Meteorites in Antarctica: https://www.space.com/14316-hundreds-meteorites-antarctica-scientists.html
What this episode covers
Back in 2008 a large chunk of rock hurtled into the Earth’s atmosphere. Most of it burned up on the way down, but some fragments of the meteorite landed in the deserts of Sudan. When scientists open up those fragments and examined them under a microscope, they found something very interesting: tiny, tiny, diamonds. Nanodiamonds! Ten years later, in April 2018, planetary scientists published a paper in Nature arguing that the structure of those nanodiamond crystals could only have come from one place: deep inside a planet — a planet that no longer exists in our Solar System. Tiny diamonds from space? Planetary destruction? Chris and Emily are totally up for that.
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Episode 05: Diamonds from Space!
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