Australian astronomers said they have spotted an exotic planet that is believed to be made of diamond in our galactic backyard. The sparkling world4,000 light years away is 60,000 kilometres in diameter, five times that ofthe Earth, and is thought to be all that remains of a once-massive starwhich collapsed and was crunched down into crystalline. An internationalteam lead by Matthew Bailes, from Swinburne University of Technology inMelbourne, said they have discovered a low-mass but dense object in orbitaround a rapidly-rotating neutron star. He said the new planet is far denserthan any other known so far and consists largely of carbon. The findingswere reported in the journal Science.