New York: A team of researchers led by Nikku Madhusudhan of Yale University has discovered a planet orbiting a star 40 light-years away in the Cancer constellation which is presumed to be made of diamond.
From its orbit and the size of its host star, the astronomers have calculated  its size and mass – its diameter is double that of Earth – and have concluded that it is unusually dense.

“The surface of this planet is likely covered in graphite and diamond rather than water and granite,” said Madhusudhan in a statement from Yale.

“This is our first glimpse of a rocky world with a fundamentally different chemistry from Earth.”

The planet is called 55 Cancri e.