Diamonds In Space - Additional Proof Of Life Out There?

My apologizes on the front end if this has already been posted anywhere, but I did do a search before I decided to post this.

According to the following article, scientists have been studying diamonds found in crashed meteorites from space since the 1980s. Since carbon is the basic building block of life as we know it, and diamonds are a form of tightly-bound, crystallized carbon, couldn't that be considered an added sort of 'proof' of life off of this planet (besides the water and methane that scientists keep searching for on other moons and planets)? Even though space diamonds are created under freezing conditions versus super-heated conditions like Earth diamonds, they are still diamonds, right?

Diamonds may be rare on Earth, but surprisingly common in space -- and the super-sensitive infrared eyes of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope are perfect for scouting them, say scientists at the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.

Using computer simulations, researchers have developed a strategy for finding diamonds in space that are only a nanometer (a billionth of a meter) in size. These gems are about 25,000 times smaller than a grain of sand, much too small for an engagement ring. But astronomers believe that these tiny particles could provide valuable insights into how carbon-rich molecules, the basis of life on Earth, develop in the cosmos.

Scientists began to seriously ponder the presence of diamonds in space in the l980s, when studies of meteorites that crashed into Earth revealed lots of tiny nanometer-sized diamonds. Astronomers determined that 3 percent of all carbon found in meteorites came in the form of nanodiamonds. If meteorites are a reflection of the dust content in outer space, calculations show that just a gram of dust and gas in a cosmic cloud could contain as many as 10,000 trillion nanodiamonds.

...

"Space diamonds are formed under very different conditions than diamonds are formed on Earth," says Louis Allamandola, also of Ames.

He notes that diamonds on Earth form under immense pressure, deep inside the planet, where temperatures are also very high. However, space diamonds are found in cold molecular clouds where pressures are billions of times lower and temperatures are below minus 240 degrees Celsius (minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit).

"Now that we know where to look for glowing nanodiamonds, infrared telescopes like Spitzer can help us learn more about their life in space," says Allamandola.

Diamonds In Space

[edit on 5-12-2009 by gazerstar]

Alright, lets see if I can phrase this right. Why is it do they think that the diamonds are formed under different conditions, why is it not because they are the debris from destroyed planets?

I also don't think it is proof of life I just think it's more evidence that when it comes to space we know very very little.

We believe that life on earth was formed with the natural occuring carbons here. This is the only way we have knowledge of life being formed, or at least that we theorize.

However, when it comes to the boundriless encompass of space, there is such a large pool of possibilites that there is no such thing as impossible.

You could imagine anything you like, from your wildest dreams, and there could be somewhere in space, something that looks exactly like it. Or even that IS it.

There is infinite space allowing for infinite everything. There may be life that forms from elements that we do not know of.

The presence of carbon forms on meteorites simply suggests that there is available carbon outside of earth that is mobile and that suggests that it is possible for carbon based life to exists beyond our planet because we have discovered the source, and the means of delivery.

As far as me personally, this does nothing for my beliefs that there is definately other life, it is definately intelligent, and it is not necessarily carbon based.

-Wx