Lucy is the largest known diamond in the galaxy. She is 2,500 miles across and weighs 5 million trillion trillion pounds. Translating this to carats would mean an approximation of 10 billion trillion trillion carats. That’s a one followed by 34 zeros.

No way could anyone wear that. She is definitely too big for Earth. At today’s rate, not even the world’s richest people combined could afford to purchase Lucy. In the long run though, the possible acquisition of Lucy would be quite alarming to miners, jewelers, as well as economists all over the world; as her estimated value might deflate the market for all known gems on Earth. If we follow the law of supply and demand, once Lucy was cut down to wearable size, there would be enough to make diamonds a dime a dozen, depreciating its appraised worth as a rare commodity.

If we take a look at the diamond market’s current inventory, the gem claiming the title of largest cut diamond in the world is the 530-carat Cullinan I - also known as The Star of Africa. This was cut from what was said to be the largest diamond ever found on Earth, which was originally 3,100 carats. This is but spare change that pales in comparison to Lucy. Technically astronomers know her as BPM 37093. However, they have decided to name her Lucy as a tribute to the Beatles song 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.’ It makes sense too, considering she is the largest known diamond in the sky to-date. Lucy is a cosmic diamond found in the Centaurus constellation. This is 50 light years away. For the courtesy of everyone who does not follow Star Trek, a light year is defined as the distance light can travel in a year. This is about 6,000,000,000,000 miles. So if you can imagine that amount multiplied by 50, that is how far Lucy is from Earth.

Lucy was once a star that died and so has become a white dwarf. A white dwarf originates from a hot core. When the star consumes its nuclear fuel, like an engine, it shuts down. The ember core crystallizes in a cubic structure with each carbon atom linked by a strong, rigid chemical bond to four other atoms. This is the carbon that transforms after extreme changes in temperature.

Astronomers have studied her for more than four decades. However, only recent advances in technology have allowed the possibility of gaining access to direct evidence of a crystallized core. By taking the premise of seismographic measurement similar to that used by geologists in studying earthquakes and the Earth’s interior, astronomers have quantified the pulsations within the carbon interior of Lucy, thereby concluding that the white dwarf has indeed solidified to form the galaxy's largest diamond.

It is believed that the fate of our own start - the sun will be similar to Lucy. Five billion years from now, once it burns out and about two billion year after that, the sun too will crystallize.

So there you have it; Lucy, the largest diamond in our galaxy!