It’s name is TrES-2b, but I think they should call it Mordor. According to scientists, it’s so close to its star than its atmosphere burns at 1000C. But, for some mysterious reason, the planet is darker than black acrylic paint:
TrES-2b is considerably less reflective than black acrylic paint, so it’s truly an alien world.
Those are the words of David Kipping, of the Harvard-Smithsonian centre for Astrophysics, one of the authors of the study in the planet, located 750 light years from Earth.
Mordor — which is the size of Jupiter and it’s only three million miles from its star — is actually the darkest planet discovered yet, almost pitch black. Paper co-author David Spiegel says that, despite the presence of light absorbent substances like vaporised sodium and potassium or titanium oxide, they don’t know why it’s so “extraordinarily dark”:
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.
I can only say one thing: Let someone else get the ring there. [Eurekalert via Discovery News]