Planet TrES-2b is Darkest Planet Ever Found
Posted on August 11, 2011
Astronomers have discovered the darkest known exoplanet. The distant, Jupiter-sized gas giant is named TrES-2b. Measurements indicate that TrES-2b reflects less than one percent of the sunlight falling on it, making it blacker than coal or any planet or moon in our solar system.
Astronomer David Kipping of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), and lead author of the paper, says, "TrES-2b is considerably less reflective than black acrylic paint, so it's truly an alien world."
Co-author David Spiegel of Princeton University, says, "It's not clear what is responsible for making this planet so extraordinarily dark. However, it's not completely pitch black. It's so hot that it emits a faint red glow, much like a burning ember or the coils on an electric stove."
Kipping and Spiegel determined the reflectivity of TrES-2b using data from NASA's Kepler spacecraft. The team monitored the brightness of the TrES-2 system as the planet orbited its star.