WASP-104b – a planet blacker than coal
Astronomers have found a bizarre world 466 light years from Earth. The planet known as WASP-104b is darker than coal and can absorb 99 percent of the light that a local star casts on it.
Researchers say the world they discovered is one of the darkest planets astronomers have ever discovered. – Of all the dark planets I was able to find in the literature, ours is in the first trojce – said study author Teo Mocnik of Keele University.
WASP-104b is a planet located 466 light years from Earth in the constellation Leo. She is counted among the so-called. Hot Jupiterow. Planets of this class are characterized by an orbit very close to the parent star, sizes close to Jupiter or low density. Due to krotki orbital period planets of this class are easy to spot during their transit against the background of the star.
WASP-104b orbits in an extremely tight orbit of just 1.76 days. That’s about 4.3 million kilometersoin from its star – 5 percent. Mercury’s distance from our Sun. The planet WASP-104b is about 1.14 times larger than Jupiter and 1.2 times more massive.
The planet was discovered in 2014. TeamoĊ Mocnik revealed its impressive darkness on arXiv after reviewing data from the Kepler Space Telescope. Researchers in their paper described the albedo (ratio of reflected to incident radiation) of a planet, whichore is 0.03. It’s the lower supportolff than charcoal has a reflection factor. This excludes the presence of clouds, ktore could reflect incident light.
Hot Jupiters typically reflect about 40 percent of the. the light thrown on them. This makes the compositeoMighty’s bench has discovered a rare case, although in the vastness of the Universe there may be many more such planets.
Close orbit may be the key to the planet’s darkness. WASP-104b is constantly zwrocone one part in the direction of its star. As a result, one side of the planet is experiencing perpetual daylight and associated high temperatures, while the other side is trapped in endless nighttime.
Researchers believe that WASP-104b has a thin atmosphere rich in sod and potassium, ktore stopping sunlight. They have calculated that the planet absorbs between 97 and 99 percent of the. light, whichore on it. And although it appears blacker than carbon, it is likely to be purple or dark purple, but from the distance separating the Earth from WASP-104b it is impossible to see this.
The dimmest planet located so far is believed to be the exoplanet TrES 2B or Kepler-1b, located at a distance of about 750 light years, ktora absorbs more than 99 percent of sunlight.
