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Jupiter-Sized Alien Planet Is Darkest Ever (Barely) Seen

Posted by timothy on from the none-more-black dept.

thebchuckster writes "The darkest alien world ever spotted by astronomers has been discovered in the outskirts of our galaxy. 'It's darker than the blackest lump of coal, than dark acrylic paint you might paint with. It's bizarre how this huge planet became so absorbent of all the light that hits it,' David Kipping, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics."

3 of 207 comments (clear)

  1. Aliens Develop Perfect Solar Power by Warwick+Allison · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What's happened to /. titling?

  2. artificial by Darth+Cider · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Maybe it's a Dyson sphere.

  3. darkest? by Sperbels · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Please someone correct me if I'm wrong but I was under the impression that we've never seen any of the light reflected by a planet outside of our solar system. I thought the only methods of planet detection we currently have were to see the light it blocks from its host star, or to see the pull it has on its host star.