The planet Mercury has always had a reputation as the ugly duckling of the solar system: small, gray and seemingly insignificant. But sometimes appearances are deceiving. A recent study revealed that beneath that inconspicuous crust lies a secret that would make any jeweler pale: a layer of diamonds as thick as a mountain on Earth. It seems that Mercury has decided to dress up for its next astronomical appearance.
Mercury: the planet with a diamond heart
Who would have thought? The planet Mercury, that tiny dot that can barely be seen in the sky, hides an immeasurable (and immovable, too) treasure. Chinese and Belgian scientists recently published a study on Nature Communications., I link it here. The study hypothesizes the existence of a layer of diamonds on the border between Mercury's core and mantle. And we're not talking about a few diamonds scattered here and there. No, gentlemen, we are talking about a layer up to 18 kilometers thick.
To put it into perspective, it's like we have a ring with a diamond the size of Mount Everest. Suddenly, that “little” planet seems a lot more interesting, doesn't it?
How is a jewel planet formed?
It all started with a carbon-rich magma ocean. As the planet Mercury cooled, some of this carbon formed the graphite crust on the surface. And the rest, what remained underneath? Well, he decided to upgrade and turn into diamonds.
Many years ago, I noted that Mercury's extremely high carbon content could have significant implications. It made me realize that something special probably happened inside.
Dr. Yanhao Lin, co-author of the study.
Something special, indeed. It's a bit like discovering that your boring neighbor actually has a rock star past. And within a year, this "neighbor" has already shown us that it has habitable areas.
Extreme science, extreme discoveries
To reach this conclusion, the researchers certainly didn't limit themselves to looking at Mercury with a particularly powerful telescope. No, they had to resort to high-pressure and temperature experiments combined with thermodynamic models to recreate the conditions of Mercury's interior.
They have reached levels of pressure up to 7 Giga Pascals. To give you an idea, it's as if you took the weight of 70.000 elephants and concentrated it on an area the size of your fingernail.
But the real star of this planetary show could be sulfur, which played a crucial role in the formation of this layer of diamonds, acting almost as a "catalyst" for a chemical reaction on a planetary scale.
Not just the planet Mercury
This discovery is not just an interesting curiosity about the planet Mercury. It has implications that extend far beyond our solar system. It could help us better understand other carbon-rich exoplanetary systems and other rocky planets
It's as if we've found a key that could open many doors in our understanding of planetary formation. For example, a layer of diamonds has a high thermal conductivity that influences magnetic field generation, helping to transfer heat from the core to the mantle.
It's as if Mercury had its own planetary air conditioning system. Who would have thought that diamonds could be so useful? A secret, so to speak… Brilliant.
