Carbon planet

From Imperial Wiki
Revision as of 18:38, 5 October 2011 by Daedalus-01 (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Carbon planets are a theoretical type of terrestrial planet that form in carbon rich (and oxygen poor) protoplanetary disks. The core would be iron rich and surrounded by silicon carbide and titanium carbide. The mantle would be mainly made of graphite and multi-kilometer thick layer of diamond (if there is sufficient pressure.[1] The surface would be abundant in hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide.

Comparison between a normal planet and a carbon planet.

Carbon planets are predicted to be of similar diameter to silicate and water planets of the same mass, potentially making them difficult to distinguish.[2]

Gallery

References