Other Meteoritic Diamonds Apparently Hail from Deep Space. in 1987, a Team of Researchers Headed by Edward Anders and Roy Lewis of the University of Chicago Reported the Discovery of Meteorite-Embedded Diamonds So Miniscule That Trillions Could Fit on the Head of a Pin. Unlike the Smithsonian Diamonds, These Microscopic Crystals Contain an Isotopic Mixture of Xenon Gas Not Found on Earth. "It Seems Necessary to Invoke an Extra-Solar Origin for the Diamond," the Scientists Concluded in a Paper Published in Nature, Indicating a Birth Outside Our Solar System.

Today, More Than 30 Year's After the Discovery of the Canyon Diablo Diamonds, Scientists Still Debate How Such Mini-Diamonds Form. Some Suspect They Were Wrought in the Vacuum of Space by Vapor Deposition, a Process That Specialists Can Use to Make Synthetic Diamond Here on Earth. Others Maintain That, Within the Hurtling Meteorite Itself, Carbon Atoms (Or, in a Minority Opinion, Grains of Meteoritic Black Graphite) Transformed Instantly into Diamond During the Extraordinary Heat and Shock of Impact.

Outer Space May Also Be the Birthplace of the Mysterious Black Diamonds Known as Carbonados. from the Portuguese Word for Burned or Carbonized, Carbonados Were First Found in Brazil in the 1800S and Have Since Turned up Elsewhere, Most Notably in Central Africa. Unlike the Clear Diamonds of Engagement Rings, Which Are Single Crystals, Black Diamond Consists of Aggregations of Individual Crystals, Which Lend the Gem Its Dark Color. the Largest Diamond Ever Found Was a Carbonado from Brazil. Named Sergio, the Stone Weighed 3,167 Carats. (One Carat Equals One-Fifth of a Gram.)

This Finding Helped Lead to a New Theory of Carbonado Formation. in 1985, Joseph Smith of the University of Chicago and J. Barry Dawson of the University of Sheffield in England Suggested in an Article Published in the Journal Geology That Large Meteor Impacts in the Precambrian Era (570 Million Year's Ago Back to Earth's Beginning Some 4.5 Billion Year's Ago) Formed the Black Diamonds We Find Today. Scientists Had Long Deemed Carbonados Quite Old, Because the Streams Where They Are Typically Uncovered Cut Through Geologic Strata Dated from One to More Than Two Billion Year's Old. in Fact, Recent Atomic Measurements of Black Diamonds Have Placed Their Origins at Nearly Four Billion Year's Ago, a Time When a Constant Barrage of Giant Meteors Battered the Earth.

Lucid in the Sky with Diamonds

Even Nearby Planets May Be Churning out Diamonds. in Fact, Planetary Scientists Say That Uranus and Neptune, the Seventh and Eighth Planets from the Sun, May Rain Diamonds, Which Then Pile up Miles-Thick at the Planets' Cores.

As for Tapping the Riches of Any Diamonds from Space, Don't Hold Your Breath. Earth-Hitting Meteorites That Either Bear or Engender Diamonds Are Few and Far Between, and Unlike Diamonds You're Likely Used To, Their Associated Diamonds Often Cannot Be Seen, Much Less Admired, with the Naked Eye. Black Diamonds, for Their Part, Are Rare and Are Primarily Used for Industrial Purposes. and the Challenges of Harvesting Any Diamonds on Uranus and Neptune, Which Are Roughly 1,700 and 2,720 Million Miles Away from Earth, Respectively, Are as Clear as the Koh-I-Noor Diamond. Alas, Scientific Understanding Is the Primary Beneficiary of Diamonds from the Heavens.

Diamonds in the Sky | Nova

By Robert Thorne

• Oct 8, 2026 • 8 min read

Direct Answer • Key Takeaway

Glittering Stars in the Night Sky Aside, Scientists Have Long Known That Some Diamonds Hail from the Heavens. in 1981, for Example, When Smithsonian Researchers Tried to Cut Through a Large Iron Meteorite That Had Crash-Landed in the Allen Hills of Antarctica, the Sawteeth on Their Blade Got All Chewed Up. Subsequent X-Rays Showed That the Stone Was Riddled with Microscopic Diamonds, the Hardest Substance Known. the Scientists Theorized That the Meteorite's Diamonds Were Born During a Cataclysmic Collision out in the Asteroid Belt.

Robert Thorne

Automotive & Future Transportation Editor

Robert Thorne covers electric vehicle innovations, autonomous driving systems, global mobility trends, and automotive engineering developments.

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