宇宙中的“超级大钻石”

Every woman dreams of receiving a huge, sparkling and priceless diamond. Now scientists have discovered the largest diamond in the universe.

But it's well beyond the reach of the most lovestruck men - 50 light years to be precise. Space scientists revealed that they had discovered a ten billion trillion trillion carat gem¹. Measuring 2,500 miles across and weighing five million trillion trillion pounds, the rock was found on Valentine's Day buried in the core of a white dwarf² star in the constellation³ Centaurus.

"It's the mother of all diamonds," said Travis Metcalfe, who led the team of researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics in America.

"You would need a jeweller's loupe the size of the Sun to grade this diamond." Named Lucy, after the Beatles' song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, the rock has sent a ripple⁴ of excitement through the scientific world.

The largest diamond found on earth was the 3,106-carat Cullinan. It was cut into nine major stones, including the 530-carat Star of Africa, now a part of the Crown Jewels. Diamonds were first discovered in India more than 2,800 years ago. The Ancient Romans believed that the stones were splinters of stars that had tumbled to earth.

In Ancient Egypt, diamonds were symbols of eternity⁵ and were used in funeral rites⁶. In the Middle Ages, men wore them to symbolise their courage and virility⁷. The tradition of giving them as love tokens dates from 1477, when Archduke Maximilian of Austria gave a diamond ring to Mary of Burgundy.

　　每个女人都梦想着收到一颗闪闪发光的、价值连城的大钻石。现在科学家们发现了宇宙中最大的钻石。

　　但是这颗钻石是绝大多数热恋中的男人怎么也够不着的——精确的说距离有50光年。宇宙科学家们透露他们发现了一块重达10的46次方克拉的宝石。这块石头直径达2500英里，重5×10的42次方磅，藏在人马座中一颗白矮星的中心，是在情人节那天被发现的。

　　“这是钻石之母，”美国哈佛史密桑尼安天文物理中心研究组组长特拉维斯·梅特卡夫说。

　　“要评价这颗钻石的等级，需要使用像太阳那么大的珠宝商专用放大镜。”这枚钻石名为Lucy，是根据甲克虫乐队的歌曲《Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds》而命名的，这块大石头令科学界兴奋不已。

　地球上发现的最大钻石是重3106克拉的克利兰钻石。它被分割成9块大钻石，其中包括530克拉的“非洲之星”，现在是皇冠珠宝中的一部分。2800多年前，钻石首先在印度被发现。古代罗马人相信这种石头是掉到地球上的星星的碎片。

　在古埃及，钻石是永恒的标志，被用于葬礼仪式。中世纪，男人们佩戴钻石，作为勇敢和刚强的象征。1477年，奥地利大公马克西米利安把一枚钻石戒指送给了玛利公主，从此赠送钻石作为爱情的象征这个传统便流传下来。