It is very difficult to imagine how a planet so close to its sun reflects only 1% of the light that hits it.
TrES-2b, or "Dark Knight", as they call it, is an exoplanet located 750 light years away from our Solar System. That's exactly 4,408,969,029,887,705.798138 miles away from us. (Good luck reading that.) Now, I want you to picture in mind a burning coal. If you haven't seen a burning coal even once in your life, here's a photo of it:
Now back to TrES-2b. TrEs-2b shares the same characteristics with a burning coal. They are both very dark (But TrES-2b is darker, keep that in mind.), and they are both glowing red. Now why is TrES-2b glowing red? Same reason why a burning coal is glowing red. Because it is hot. Wait, not only hot, but very hot. With the surface temperature of 1,800 degrees Farenheit (980 degrees Celcius), the planet TrES-2b is like an enormous piece of burning coal.
Now why is this planet so dark, that it is darker than the darkest coal, and even darker than a black acrylic paint despite the fact that it is very close to its parent star? No one really knows why. But there are possible reasons like:
- It doesn't have reflective clouds like that of Jupiter, which makes it really bright, due to its very high tempereture.
- Presence of "light-absorbing" chemicals like vaporized sodium, potassium, or gaseous titanium oxide.
Sources: Wikipedia, National Geographic
I hope you learned something today. Have an awesome day, and stay cool!
- Michelle
