NASA: Blistering Pitch Black Planet Has Been Captured By Hubble Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope from NASA has observed a planet outside our solar system that looks as black as fresh asphalt. The researchers said that the planet eats the light instead of reflecting it back to space. The light-eating disposition is due to the planets rare capability to trap more or less 94 percent of the visible starlight falling into its atmosphere.
This exoplanet is called the WASP-12b. It is one of a class of the so-called "hot Jupiters," which is a gigantic, gaseous planets that orbit very near to their host state and are heated to extreme temperatures. The planet's atmosphere is so hot that most molecules are unable to live on the blistering day side.
Thus, the clouds might not be able to form and reflect the light back into space. Instead, the incoming light goes through deep into the planet's atmosphere. It is then absorbed by hydrogen atoms and converted to heat energy.
The lead researcher of the Hubble study from the McGill University and Institute for Research on Exoplanets in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Taylor Bell said that "We did not expect to find such a dark exoplanet. Most of the hot Jupiters reflect about 40 percent of starlight, according to Phys.Org.
However, the planet's side during the night time is a different story. The WASP-12b has a fixed day and night side because it orbits so near to the star that it is tidally locked. In the side of the nighttime, it is more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit cooler. It can allow water vapor and clouds to form.
As follows, most of the previous observation of the Hubble, that day/night boundary has detected evidence of water vapor. It is possible that the cloud hazes in the atmosphere. WASP-12b is more or less 2 million miles away from its star and completes an orbit once a day.
Taylor Bell added that "This new Hubble research further demonstrates the vast diversity among the strange population of hot Jupiters. You can have planets like WASP-12b that are 4,600 degrees Fahrenheit and some that are 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit, and they're both called hot Jupiters, according to NASA."
