The biggest carbonado ever discovered in the world was found in
Brazil, at 3,600 carats (300g short of a kilogram), but no gem-quality
material could be cut from it. The biggest rough gem-quality diamond
ever found in the world is the Cullinan Diamond, at 3,106.75 carats
(more than half a kilogram) in 1905 at the famous Premier Mines, South
Africa. It was named after the owner of the mine.
A miner posing with Cullinan – it doesn’t look like it’s worth very much, does it?
Another view – looks very ordinary, for now
A once in a lifetime chance to pose with the most precious stone ever found on the planet
The stone was broken into many pieces and the largest polished gem
out of it is Cullinan I, also known as the Great Star of Africa, at 530
carats (106 g). Estimated value: over USD400 million (more than RM1
billion).
Cullinan I: now this is one diamond perhaps even Bill Gates can’t give to his wife
It is now mounted in the head of the Sceptre with the Cross, part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom.
But Cullinan I is only the 2nd largest polished diamond in the world.
Well, it was the biggest for about 80 years, until 1985, when the
Golden Jubilee diamond was discovered from the same mine. At 545.67
carats, it’s about 15 carats heavier than Cullinan I. It now part of
Thailand’s crown jewels. When the diamond was first publicly exhibited
in Thailand, the queue was a mile long. It was brought to, and blessed
by Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, the Supreme Buddhist Patriarch and
the Supreme Imam in Thailand.
It’s of a different colour than is usually expected of a diamond
To get a general idea of its size
But wait! That’s not the end of the story. Those are the biggest
diamonds on earth, but their size is pitiful compared to the biggest
diamond in the universe: BPM37093, aka the
diamond star, at 10 billion trillion trillion carats! Dubbed Lucy (from
the Beatles’ song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds), it’s the compressed
heart of an old star that was as bright as our sun but is now faded and
miniscule. But the chunk of crystallised carbon is still a mind-boggling
4,000 kilometers in diameter.
Artists’ impression of what the diamond will look like
If you think you’d like to get some of it to bring back home, there’s
a small problem: it’s 50 light-years away from here. That means light
takes 50 years to reach it. And another 50 get back here. Hence,
travelling at the speed of light, you’ll still never make it – the round
trip alone takes 100 years.
Equipment is another problem. Astronomer Travis Metcalfe, who led the
team of researchers that discovered Lucy said that you’d need “a
jeweller’s loupe the size of the sun to grade this diamond.” So how lah?
Perhaps the sun is a better choice. It will become a white dwarf too, and light only takes 8 minutes to reach it.
However, the wait is a little bit too long for most of us.
Astronomers said that it will only become a giant diamond 7 billion
years from now, when its ember core crystallises.
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন