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Thursday, August 18, 2011

Dark Planet, Darker Than Coal

A planet can be seen as reflecting light from its parent star. The planet Mars, for example, emits 17 percent of sunlight it receives. But a newly discovered planets in the galaxy is much more black than coal, making it the darkest planet. The new planet discovered by a team of astronomers at institutions across the United States it is TrES-2b. The planets orbiting Sun-like star located 718 light-years away, toward the constellation Draco. If measured from its parent star, Jupiter-sized planet is approximately 4.8 million kilometers or 30 times closer than the distance between the Earth Sun. Distance and size did not make the planet shines brightly. The planet was actually very dark because it reflects little light of its parent star, less than 1 percent. Observations made using the NASA spacecraft's Kepler confirmed this. The camera is embedded in the spacecraft to record precisely 50 times the orbit of TrES-2b cycle. Chip in it is also able to see the light of changes to six parts per million. "We do not know the cause of the darkness of this planet," says David Spiegel from Princeton University. "But the planet is still reflect some light in red, like a glowing wire in an electric stove." TrES-2b has a temperature of 982 degrees Celsius. In this heat, clouds of ammonia reflective, as on Jupiter, it is impossible to form. Astronomers actually found some light-absorbing chemicals, such as sodium, potassium, and titanium oxide gas. However, these materials are not sufficient to explain the darkness of the planet. Another unique condition found is one side always facing the planet's parent star, caused the phenomenon of tidal locking. Distances very close to the star TrES-2b make dampen star's gravity planetary rotation.*** [SPACE | ANTON WILLIAM | KORAN TEMPO 3622]
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