Mysterious and alluring the luster of a black diamond is wholly out of this world. But you may be asking yourself, what is a black diamond? Is it a diamond at all? The answer is yes! And their theoretical origins may add even more intrigue.

Also known as “carbonado,” a term coined by the Portuguese in mid-18^th century Brazil, the black diamond has long been one of the most enigmatic geological occurrences. Most intriguingly, many studies (most notably by geoscientist Stephen Haggerty, Ph.D and colleagues at Florida International University in Miami) have linked the existence and creation of black diamonds with interstellar space. That’s right; your black diamond could actually be a fallen star!

Let’s begin with the fact that a black diamond can only be found in Brazil and the Central African Republic, making them especially rare. Neither place is especially rich in kimberlite, a volcanic rock formed deep within the mantle known for containing diamonds. It’s been concluded that the sparkling gems we recognize today were formed deep within the earth because of the immense amount of heat and pressure needed to have converted the carbon.  Those diamonds were then pushed to the surface by volcanic eruptions between 100 million and one billion years ago. But “carbonados” are actually several billion years older than that, 3.8 billion years old actually, which makes their presence in young, looser alluvial deposits all the more perplexing.

They are also rich in hydrogen and nitrogen, much like diamonds formed within the bellies of supernovas in space. And unlike white diamonds, black diamonds are isolated to two locations. The hypothesis then concludes that the black diamond was created in a hydrogen and nitrogen rich stellar explosion and then those diamond clusters were sent hurdling through space. And so the stars fell, that is until they ran into our lovely planet and embedded themselves on the surface of Brazil and Africa, which would have at that point still been fused as the super-continent of Pangaea. Slowly the continents drifted and loose sediment began to build above the extraterrestrial star dust. This explains both their isolated incidence as well as their presence along the surface of the earth rather than deep within it.

Mark your out-of-this-world love with a luminous black diamond engagement ring as rare and unique as you.

For more fun facts and information: National Science Foundation, Science Daily and PBS NOVA