A joint research team of academics from Monash University, RMIT University, CSIRO, the Australian Synchrotron and Plymouth University say that Lonsdaleite diamonds – rare diamonds smaller than the width of a human hair – were formed in space.
While diamonds found on Earth have a cubic structure, Lonsdaleite are hexagonal, a structure that makes them even stronger than “Earth diamonds.” Lonsdaleite is found in nature in meteorite debris.
The researchers, who, according to IDEX Online, “used advanced electron microscopy techniques to understand the differences between the way lonsdaleite and regular diamonds formed,” say that Lonsdaleite diamonds were formed “when a dwarf planet collided with a large asteroid about 4.5 billion years ago.”
Professor Dougal McCulloch, of RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology), commented: “There’s strong evidence that there’s a newly discovered formation process for the lonsdaleite and regular diamond, which is like a supercritical chemical vapour deposition process that has taken place in these space rocks, probably in the dwarf planet shortly after a catastrophic collision.”
