New planet discovered is blacker than coal!

[alhoon]

http://news.yahoo.com/coal-black-ali...220601419.html
"An alien world blacker than coal, the darkest planet known, has been discovered in the galaxy.
...
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."

"It's a mystery as to what's causing it to be so dark," Kipping said. "There's a good chance it's a chemical we haven't even thought of yet." "

Wow. Astronomy advances help... chemistry now. We will have people going for "black planet paint" in their labs.

I think this planet deserves a name better than TrES-2b. I mean, I'll start going smart### on my friends saying "Our economy's prospects seem darker than TrES-2b" or "See that chick. Her heart is blacker that ... TrES-2b."
It doesn't sound well.

[Arbitrary Crusader]

You know what this mean? Aliens.

[Tacitursa]

Could this be mistaken for a black hole perhaps?

[PointOfViewGun]

Could this be mistaken for a black hole perhaps?

Not possible. The radiation that a planet gives off is much different than the radiation a black hole gives off.

[Ancient Aliens]

You know what this mean? Aliens.

In seriousness, who knows? Are their advantages to lowering your planets albido?

[Helm]

No not aliens, it will be a daemon world.

[Arbitrary Crusader]

No not aliens, it will be a daemon world.

No.
To copy off a yahoo user comment:It's where the Sith live. Or maybe both

[Ulyaoth]

I think this planet deserves a name better than TrES-2b. I mean, I'll start going smart### on my friends saying "Our economy's prospects seem darker than TrES-2b" or "See that chick. Her heart is blacker that ... TrES-2b."
It doesn't sound well.

Can't give every planet with any unique characteristic a unique name. You would run out of names quick. Most people can barely remember the ones in our solar system.

[Magicman2051]

They've speculated that it could be titanium oxide, which given that this planet is actually a gas giant (a "hot Jupiter" to be precise) does make some sense. The issue isn't it being "black", it is that it is reflecting less than 1% of the light that hits its surface.

Very cool either way.

[PointOfViewGun]

They've speculated that it could be titanium oxide, which given that this planet is actually a gas giant (a "hot Jupiter" to be precise) does make some sense. The issue isn't it being "black", it is that it is reflecting less than 1% of the light that hits its surface.

Very cool either way.

Reminds me the vessel of Slartibartfast.

[Akar]

Reminds me the vessel of Slartibartfast.

I thought his ship was just invisible as it was made out of nobody's business?

[Phier]

Slartiblartfast flew a bistro.

You guys are thinking about the Stunt Ship to fly into the sun.

[PointOfViewGun]

I thought his ship was just invisible as it was made out of nobody's business?

The ship I'm talking about, which may indeed not be the ship of Slartibartfast, was made out of a material that would absorb all light.

[Phier]

The ship I'm talking about, which may indeed not be the ship of Slartibartfast, was made out of a material that would absorb all light.

That was Hotblack Destiaos stunt ship for the concert.

[Yosemite]

The issue isn't it being "black", it is that it is reflecting less than 1% of the light that hits its surface.

Very cool either way.

man thats cool

[removeduser_4536284751384]

The issue isn't it being "black", it is that it is reflecting less than 1% of the light that hits its surface.

Your second clause is the exact definition of black.

"The issue isn't it being "black", it is that it is black".

The colour isn't what is causing it to not reflect light.

That's because the colour is the property of reflecting light. If it reflects very little light of any wavelength it's black.

Water absorbs heat and refracts light.
Steam actually gives off heat (obviously) and diffuses light.
Ice doesn't actually absorb heat, despite what you might think, and reflects light.

Lol. You realise that any matter can absorb or radiate heat, and what it does completely depends on the temperature of the surrounding environment?

It would have to be gaseous.

Not necessarily. Perhaps an atmosphere of sulfur hexaflouride or another dense gas suspends a cloud of solid carbon allotropes?

Seth, unless you actually have some background in science I'm not sure why you're being so combative.

I have to laugh at this.

[Magicman2051]

And more importantly a black hole that close to a star would be tearing matter off of the stars surface. And it isn't just radiation, we would be able to see the centre of a black hole.

If you want some wacky planetary stuff, then read http://arxiv.org/abs/1102.0291

[MathiasOfAthens]

Maybe its made out of Coal?

[The Mouth]

Maybe its made out of Coal?

If it's coal (and we make some kind scientific advance in warding off EXTREME heat and faster space travel) then we will probably end up mining the entire planet for fuel .... Anyways I'm still waiting for the inevitable discovery of highly advanced Lizard men with super weapons and flying cars!

@Aetius Unless somebody miraculously finds us first (If there are "Aliens" capable of near Light speed travel that is, which is highly unlikely but I suppose possible). Sadly seeing as how much more technologically advanced this civilization would be, we would probably end up being conquered.

[Magicman2051]

Coal has a higher albedo than this planet. It could be made of a particular variation on coal we haven't encountered before but that is very unlikely, coal is a heavy material compared to what makes up the surface of a gas giant, particularly a hot Jupiter, and would instead fall into the gravity well.