TrES 2b: Dark Planet
Explanation:
Why is this planet so dark?
Planet
TrES-2b reflects back less than one percent of the light it receives, making
it darker than any known planet or moon, darker even than
coal.
Jupiter-sized
TrES-2b orbits extremely close to a
sun-like star 750 light years away, and was discovered producing slight eclipses
in 2006 using the modest 10-cm telescopes of the
Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey (TrES).
The alien world's strange darkness, however, was only
uncovered recently by observations indicating its slight reflective glow by
the Earth-orbiting
Kepler satellite.
An artist's drawing of planet is
shown above, complete with unsubstantiated speculation on possible moons.
Reasons for
TrES-2b's darkness remain unknown and are an active topic of research.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
