Strange planet is blacker than coal

AFP ^ | August 11, 2011

[NYer]

A planet orbiting a distant star is darker than coal, reflecting less than one percent of the sunlight falling on it, according to a paper published on Thursday.

The strange world, TrES-2b, is a gas giant the size of Jupiter, rather than a solid, rocky body like Earth or Mars, astronomers said.

It closely orbits the star GSC 03549-02811, located about 750 light years away in the direction of the constellation of Draco the Dragon.

"TrES-2b is considerably less reflective than black acrylic paint, so it's truly an alien world," David Kipping of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said in a press release issued by Britain's Royal Astronomical Society (RAS).

First spotted five years ago, TrES-2b races around its star at a distance of just five million kilometres (three million miles).

This is scorchingly close when compared to Earth's 150-million-km (93-million-mile) distance from the Sun and Jupiter's 778 million kms (483 million miles).

So fierce is the heat that the exoplanet's atmosphere is cooked to more than 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,800 degrees Fahrenheit).

Signatures from its atmosphere point to the presence of light-absorbing chemicals like vaporised sodium and potassium or titanium oxide.

But none of these substances can explain the planet's darkness, which is more extreme than any planet or moon in our own Solar System.

"It's not clear what is responsible for making this planet so extraordinarily dark," said David Spiegel of Princeton University.

[GreenHornet]

It's obviously a big charcoal briquet....

That would explain the subsequent discovery of what appears to be an enormous bag-like object with the word "Kingsford" on it floating nearby.

[Eddie01]

I dub thee “Obama’s Heart”

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

If you visit a nearby planet, bring a camera with an f-65 lens & you should be able to snap some good pics.

[Rebelbase]

Soon to be poster child planet for the final outcome of global warming.

[Ransomed]

Gene Wolfe, a Catholic sci-fi/fantasy writer, has a colour that is blacker than black in his Book of the New Sun series, he calls it “fuligin”.

Freegards, thanks for all the ping on FR

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Global warming.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

LOL!

[MurrietaMadman]

Muslim paradise

[RikaStrom]

LOL

B5 was the best.

[traderrob6]

I forgot about a rump roast one time an achieved similar results.

[AnAmericanAbroad]

I’m not really a fan of rap, but I really liked that particular album. Greatest rap of all time (at least for me).

[Husker24]

They should name the planet “North Korea”

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks NYer. Addiitional:

• Coal-Black Alien Planet Is Darkest Ever Seen

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Google news searches: exoplanet · exosolar · extrasolar ·

[the invisib1e hand]

that’s racist.

[Nick Danger]

There appear to be millions of black monoliths covering the surface.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks,...what happens to charcoal when it is that Hot...?

[RedMDer]

Day 45 and the Freepathon is still on. Please donate today.
Click it.

[Two Kids' Dad]

That reminds me of the scene at the end of Time Bandits when the kid tells his parents "Mum, dad, don't touch it! It's evil!" and they immediately both reach in and touch the burnt roast.

[SunkenCiv]

It’s the one place we know of where you can paint the walls of your house black to brighten the room.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2763592/posts?page=12#12

[TXnMA]

1raider1: Just a wild guess: YEC?