Scientists have concluded that white dwarfs, the remnants of stars like our Sun, begin to crystallize at some point in their life cycle, and many of them already have a core of solid oxygen and carbon.
Our Sun, like many other stars in the Universe, will explode in billions of years and turn into a white dwarf. After some time, the celestial body will go through its own evolution and flare up as a Supernova, the core of which is capable of crystallizing. As a result, the Sun could become a giant diamond, scientists write in the journal Nature.
White dwarfs are compact stars with masses comparable to or greater than the Sun, but devoid of their own energy sources, and their matter is gradually crystallizing.
Observations have shown that the remnants of dead stars, such as our Sun, called white dwarfs, have a core of solid oxygen and carbon, which is formed as a result of a phase transition at one of the stages of their life cycle.
This transition is similar to the transformation of liquid water into ice, but it occurs at higher temperatures. The discovery of this fact suggests that the age of white dwarfs may be several billion years older than previous estimates.
With the help of the GAIA observatory, scientists have observed 15 thousand white dwarfs and found that solidified celestial bodies have an unusually bright glow, which indicates an unusual history of their formation. The fact is that the crystallization process takes place in several stages.
After the temperature drops to very low levels, metals and oxygen solidify, while carbon, helium and hydrogen remain liquid. Already hardened matter falls into the center of the dead star, and the rest of the atoms are thrown upward, which leads to the release of heat. During this process, the white dwarf itself turns into a "flaky diamond". Its core consists of a mixture of oxygen with metal, and on top it is covered with a "crust" of helium or oxygen.
Andrey Arkadiev
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