145.44 Carat Diamond Found by Alrosa

You don’t have to leave the atmosphere to discover a planet-sized diamond.

In late January, Russian diamond miner Alrosa unearthed a 145.44 ct. diamond in the Yubileynaya Diamond Pipe in the Yakutia region of Russia.

The huge rock could be worth $1 million if put up for auction, according to experts at the mining company’s diamond sorting center.

The diamond’s dimensions are 35 x 20 x 26 mm, and it boasts an octahedron shape. The gem is transparent with a yellow hue, and has small graphite-sulfide inclusions in its periphery.

Check out some of the fun reactions from the jewelry industry about Alrosa’s latest big find:

“Wouldn’t it be cool if Putin decided to turn that stone into a pendant for himself?”—Diamond industry veteran Ira Weissman.

There are so many things that my company Jeff Cooper could do with that 145.44 carat diamond that was found recently. With those dimensions I personally recommend setting it into our Tara double halo setting for what I like to call the “Ninth Planet” effect. I mean, who doesn’t miss Pluto, right? Two rings of beautifully well-cut round brilliants around this 35.0 x 20.0 x 26.0 mm yellow-hued monster and boom! How ya like me now, Saturn? In your face, Neptune!—Barbara Palumbo, Jeff Cooper’s vice president of sales for the southeast region.

@jckmagazine make it into a pendant and never take it off. It just cert it everywhere in a wheel barrow

— Arielle Klein(@ArielleKlein) February 12, 2013