bout that nice ass weather
Carbon Planets
There are two elements in our universe which are both overwhelmingly abundant, and can be used to make an awful lot of different things: carbon and oxygen. Earth and the rest of the solar system happened to form from an oxygen-rich part of space. Earth’s crust contains a huge amount of oxygen, in rock. All Earth rocks are made of silicate, a chemical compound of silicon and oxygen. So are there any planets which are rich in carbon instead of oxygen? Actually, yes there are, and we’ve already found two! One is PSR J1719-1438, a planet orbiting a neutron star, bathed in x ray sunlight. The other is 55 Cancri e, a super-Earth orbiting a Sun-like star. Carbon planets are likely to be chemically very different from Earth. Their cores would be made from naturally alloyed steel, and they would likely have entire mountain ranges made of diamond.
Guest post written by Invader Xan, who also writes at supernovacondensate.net
