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The nature and origin of interstellar diamond

Nature volume 332, pages 611–613 (1988)Cite this article

Abstract

Microscopic diamond was recently discovered1 in oxidized acid residues from several carbonaceous chondrite meteorites (for example, the Cδ component2 of the Allende meteorite). Some of the reported properties of Cδ seem in conflict with those expected of diamond1,3. Here we present high spatial resolution analytical data which may help to explain such results. The Cδ diamond is an extremely fine-grained (0.5–10 nm) single-phase material, but surface and interfacial carbon atoms, which may comprise as much as 25% of the total, impart an 'amorphous' character to some spectral data. These data support the proposed high-pressure con-version of amorphous carbon and graphite into diamonds due to grain–grain collisions in the interstellar medium4 although a low-pressure mechanism of formation cannot be ruled out.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, 94035, USA

    David F. Blake, Friedemann Freund, Ruth Shipp, Theodore E. Bunch, Alexander G. Tielens & Sherwood Chang

  2. National Center for Electron Microscopy, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA

    Kannan F. M. Krishnan, Charles J. Echer & Crispin J. D. Hetherington

  3. Surface Science Laboratories, Mountain View, California, 94043, USA

    Robert J. Lipari

Authors
  1. David F. Blake
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  2. Friedemann Freund
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  3. Kannan F. M. Krishnan
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  4. Charles J. Echer
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  5. Ruth Shipp
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  6. Theodore E. Bunch
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  7. Alexander G. Tielens
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  9. Crispin J. D. Hetherington
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  10. Sherwood Chang
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Blake, D., Freund, F., Krishnan, K. et al. The nature and origin of interstellar diamond. Nature 332, 611–613 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/332611a0

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