http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BPM_37093 [en.wikipedia.org]

Someone
Space scientists revealed today that they have found the biggest known diamond in the universe - a 10-billion-trillion-trillion-carat gem.

US astrophysicists said they found the massive rock on Valentine's Day, positioned 50 light years away in the constellation Centaurus.

"You would need a jeweller's loupe the size of the Sun to grade this diamond," said Travis Metcalfe who led the researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics.

The cosmic diamond is a chunk of crystallised carbon in the core of a white dwarf star.

It is 4,000 km across and weighs 2.27 million trillion trillion kg, which translates to about 10 billion trillion trillion carats, or a one followed by 34 zeros.

"It's the mother of all diamonds," said Dr Metcalfe.

"Some people refer to it as Lucy in a tribute to the Beatles song, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds."

The biggest diamond on earth is the 530-carat Star of Africa, which is located the British crown jewels.

Dr Metcalfe said our sun would become a white dwarf when it dies in 5 billion years.

Two billion years after that, the Sun's ember core will crystallise as well, leaving a giant diamond in the centre of our solar system.

"Our sun will become a diamond that truly is forever," said Dr Metcalfe.

Researchers at the institution made a second Valentine's Day discovery.

The Spitzer Space Telescope spied a cluster of red newborn stars, positioned in a rosebud-shape.

The star cluster is 3,300 light years away in the constellation Cepheus.

The stars formed from a massive cloud of gas and dust that contains enough raw material to create a thousand sun-like stars.

Fragments of the cloud became so cold and dense that they collapsed into stars.

Most stars in our Milky Way galaxy are thought to form in such clusters.

- PA

I want to see a picture of this. :o A giant diamond suspended in space forever? how awesome is that?