NASA's Kepler Spacecraft Discovers the Darkest Planet Known to Man

TrES-2b is pictured here close to it's star in the constellation Draco.  The planet orbits it's sun
every 2.5 earth days.  (Photo by NASA-Kepler Spacecraft)

NASA astronomers working with the Kepler Spacecraft exploratory program, which goal is to survey the Milky Way Galaxy for earth-like planets, announced that they have discovered the darkest planet known to man.

Kepler was launced by NASA on
March 7, 2009.

The planet, TrES-2b, was found as it's orbital path brought the darker than night planet between it's star and Kepler which altered the amount of light coming from the star just enough to make it visible to Kepler's planet seeking sensors.

In a press release from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, co-author David Kippling stated that "TrES-2b is considerably less reflective than black acrylic paint, so it's truly an alien world."

TrES-2b is a gaseous planet that is about the size of Jupiter, approximately 750 light years away from earth, and according to astronomers absorbs 99% of the light it's star doles out.  In many respects, this planet is a complete opposite of our home, earth.  This far away neighbor planet is an intimidating world that is stunningly hot with an average temperature of about 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit.  It's atmosphere is most likely made of either gaseous titanium oxide, or vaporized sodium and potassium.

In the press release David Spiegel, a Princeton University co-author of the project, said "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."

The Kepler Spacecraft search for planets in just a portion of the Milky Way.  Here,
Kepler's field of view is shown looking into the constellations of Cygnus, Lyra,
and Draco.  (Photo by NASA)

This planetary discovery is another terrific achievement for the Kepler Spacecraft which has now logged a total of 20 planets that are in other solar systems in the Milky Way.  Kepler continues to probe deep space skies in search of other planets.