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Coal-Black Alien Planet Is Darkest Ever Seen
Yahoo | Space.com ^
| 8/11/11
| Charles Q. Choi
Posted on 08/12/2011 11:36:27 AM PDT by LibWhacker
An alien world blacker than coal, the darkest planet known, has been discovered in the galaxy.
The world in question is a giant the size of Jupiter known as TrES-2b. NASA's Kepler spacecraft detected it lurking around the yellow sun-like star GSC 03549-02811 some 750 light years away in the direction of the constellation Draco.
The researchers found this gas giant reflects less than 1 percent of the sunlight falling on it, making it darker than any planet or moon seen up to now. [The Strangest Alien Planets]
"It's just ridiculous how dark this planet is, how alien it is compared to anything we have in our solar system," study lead-author David Kipping, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told SPACE.com. "It's darker than the blackest lump of coal, than dark acrylic paint you might paint with. It's bizarre how this huge planet became so absorbent of all the light that hits it."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: alien; darkest; discovered; draco; gsc0354902811; planet; tres2b; xplanets
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To: LibWhacker
That headline is racist!
(ducks to avoid thrown fruit)
2
posted on
08/12/2011 11:37:54 AM PDT
by
TheConservativeParty
(PALIN 45 -The cure for "meet the new boss, same as the old boss." Resisting Tyranny Since 1-20-2009)
To: LibWhacker
‘Obama home planet’ jokes start in 5... 4... 3...
...but no. That would be racist.
3
posted on
08/12/2011 11:39:01 AM PDT
by
WayneS
(Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm. -- James Madison)
To: TheConservativeParty
(ducks to avoid thrown fruit)Homophobe!
4
posted on
08/12/2011 11:39:36 AM PDT
by
null and void
(Day 932. The mob is decisive when the law is not.)
To: LibWhacker; shibumi
Finally my “I’ll stop wearing black when they find something darker” dreams have come true!
5
posted on
08/12/2011 11:40:33 AM PDT
by
Salamander
(Can't sleep...clowns will eat me.)
To: null and void
..."
....your mom goes to college."Napoleon Dynamite
6
posted on
08/12/2011 11:42:29 AM PDT
by
de.rm
('Most people never believe anything you tell them unless it isn't true."-Groucho Marx)
To: LibWhacker
Hast du gesehen in deine Leben? They darker than us! Woof!
To: LibWhacker
8
posted on
08/12/2011 11:43:36 AM PDT
by
struggle
To: LibWhacker
1. It’s all the SUV’s
2. They’ve got the wrong kind of light bulbs
3. It’s all Bush’s fault
9
posted on
08/12/2011 11:44:12 AM PDT
by
samtheman
To: LibWhacker
A licorice planet????
Who'da thunk it!!
10
posted on
08/12/2011 11:44:35 AM PDT
by
Logic n' Reason
(The stain must be REMOVED (ERADICATED)....NOW!!)
To: WayneS
he would be from a planet only half that dark.
11
posted on
08/12/2011 11:46:12 AM PDT
by
rokkitapps
( Hearings on healthcare waivers NOW! (If you agree make this your tagline))
To: LibWhacker
This is a coal black planet in deep dark space.
How could it be seen?
To: LibWhacker
"Yeah, Booiiieee!"
13
posted on
08/12/2011 11:47:46 AM PDT
by
dfwgator
To: LibWhacker
14
posted on
08/12/2011 11:48:27 AM PDT
by
RichInOC
(No! BAD Rich! (What'd I say?))
To: LibWhacker
Very strange for a gas giant, if it is a gas giant.
Something weird be going on there.
15
posted on
08/12/2011 11:50:22 AM PDT
by
The Cajun
(Palin, Free Republic, Mark Levin, Rush, Hannity......Nuff said.)
To: LibWhacker
Alien tech solar-power converter on a global scale...
16
posted on
08/12/2011 11:50:22 AM PDT
by
Dead Corpse
(For those who fight for it, life has a flavor the sheltered will never know.)
To: struggle
God, I read Dune, and loved it, ages ago but have absolutely no recollection of Giedi Prime.
To: The Cajun
Exactly my thought about it. Very strange and weird.
To: LibWhacker
Giedi Prime is the home planet of the Harkkonens. In the movie it was shown to be a coal black planet with just a little light reflecting off. That’s the first thing I thought of when I saw the headline.
To: struggle
Giedi Prime? Good call. The spice must flow...
20
posted on
08/12/2011 11:57:47 AM PDT
by
Noumenon
(The only 'NO' a liberal understands is the one that arrives at muzzle velocity.)
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