We all know that we seek out the crystallized mineral, diamond, by digging into the earth or searching in river beds. Diamond reaches these places through the functioning of geologic forces on carbon over the course of time. Through our finding, mining, cutting and polishing, the diamond is brought to a state of shining beauty which we use to create astounding jewelry pieces. While many of us enjoy this diamond jewelry, most who own diamond jewelry tend to have pieces that have a small diamond, anywhere from less than a carat to a few carats, which would generally be considered an enormous diamond. This is all relative, however, as a diamond can exist that is much larger than most of us realize.
The world’s largest known diamond is the Star of Africa, weighing in at a magnificent 530 carats, and 53mm, or approximately two inches, long. This is considered by all to be incredibly large. While it can be placed in an item of jewelry, a diamond of 530 carats would not make a practical necklace, ring or other jewelry item. The Star of Africa diamond is a finished, polished diamond, made a part of the jewelry that makes up the Royal Crown Jewels of Britain. The diamond that the Star of Africa was cut and polished from was the most enormous diamond that anyone has yet to find on this planet. Weighing in at the incredible weight of 3100 carats, the original raw diamond that the Star of Africa came out of was a monstrous gem of unimaginable size. Imagine wearing an item of jewelry with a diamond of 3100 carats!
The rather interesting thing about all of this is that we are only speaking of diamond that has been found on the Earth. Now, while we may have on record a diamond of what to us is huge in the Star of Africa, it is interesting to note that in the last few years astronomers have been made aware of the existence of individual diamonds that make the Star of Africa, and even the raw diamond it came out of, seem to be miniscule in comparison. Of course the brilliance the Star of Africa isn’t at all dimished, nor is the diamond jewelry trade is about to face collapse as a result of the discovery of these astronomers. This is simply to say that we must understand that while a multi-carat diamond may be large in terms of jewelry, it pales in significance when compared to the diamond that we now know exists outside of our planet.
In 2004, astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics released findings of a remarkable discovery in both the world of astronomy and for those interested in diamonds. The astronomers found a diamond that will not be made into jewelry anytime soon. This diamond is 50 light years from earth, approximately 2500 miles across, and weighs in at a the shocking weight of five million trillion trillion pounds. This is a raw diamond of 10 billion trillion trillion carats. Even if such a diamond could be cut and polished, it would be beyond the ability of even the world’s greatest jeweler to make a piece of diamond jewelry out of it.
The diamond is the result of a dead star. The star, as it died, became a white dwarf, and crystallized into the unimaginably large diamond that now sits in space like a god’s piece of jewelry. And while this giant diamond may be 50 light years from earth, it is interesting to note that there will, in the distant future, be another diamond floating much closer to us. Our own Sun is destined to become a white dwarf one day. Of course, the Earth will be long gone by that time, but it is interesting to think that while we place such a wholesale enormous value on the diamond and diamond jewelry today, that once we are all gone, there will be a diamond that is far larger that any we could ever have seen, sitting right in our cosmic backyard.
Other articles of interest: