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Astronomers Find Planet Made Of Diamond

Posted by JacobSloan on August 26, 2011

diamond_planet_pulsarWhat celebrity couple will be first to take a honeymoon on the planet made of solid diamond crystal? Via Wired Science:

An international team of astronomers, led by Australia’s Swinburne University of Technology professor Matthew Bailes, has discovered a planet made of diamond crystals, in our own Milky Way galaxy.

The planet is relatively small at around 60,000 km in diameter (still, it’s five times the size of Earth). But despite its diminutive stature, this crystal space rock has more mass than the solar system’s gas giant Jupiter.

Researchers from institutions in the UK, Australia, Germany, Italy and the USA used a variety of radio telescopes — including the Australian Parkes CSIRO, the Lovell in Cheshire and the Keck in Hawaii — and 200,000 Gigabytes of celestial data to find the nifty diamond-esque planet.

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War Crimes Prosecutors Aim To Subpoena Naomi Campbell

Posted by phunkychic666 on May 31, 2010

Naomi Campbell. Photo by Jesse Gross (CC)

Naomi Campbell. Photo by Jesse Gross (CC)

From France 24/AFP:

Prosecutors want to subpoena supermodel Naomi Campbell to testify over a so-called blood diamond she allegedly received from Liberia’s ex-president Charles Taylor, said court papers filed Thursday.

“Ms Campbell’s testimony is necessary as there is evidence that Ms Campbell was given rough diamonds by the accused (Taylor) in September 1997,” said a prosecution application filed with the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

“Ms Campbell’s anticipated evidence concerns ‘a central issue’ in the case: the accused’s possession of rough diamonds,” states the document, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

Taylor’s war crimes trial heard claims in January that he had given Campbell a “large” diamond after a 1997 dinner hosted by South African ex-president Nelson Mandela.

The diamond was among those Taylor had obtained from Sierra Leone rebels and took to South Africa “to sell… or exchange them from weapons,” prosecutor Brenda Hollis said in cross-examination…