Diamond Planet
An exotic planet that seems to be made of diamond racing around a tiny star in our galactic backyard in an undated image courtesy of Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. Reuters/Handout

A previously unknown pulsar was discovered 4,000 light years from Earth, scientists at the University of Manchester said. Scientists said that the star sits in the Milky Way.

The star spins hundreds of times per second and emits beams of radio waves akin to a lighthouse.

Scientists said that irregular movements in radio pulses were detected, implying interference from some sort of object.

Only two of the 1800 known pulsars concealed planets and it is the first diamond planet we have ever seen.

The study was led by Professor Matthew Bailes of Swinburne University of Technology in Australia and published in the journal Science.

The scientists said that the star's beams were catching interference from a planet orbiting it. The discovery was made using a telescope.

The star is 20 km in diameter, a mere shadow of the 60,000 km planet. According to the study, the planet is about 300 times heavier than ours and five times its diameter.

The planet is made almost entirely of diamond.

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