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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."

13 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.

    1. Re:artificial by Z00L00K · · Score: 4, Informative

      But in that case it would encapsulate the star - not circle it.

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    2. Re:artificial by maxwell+demon · · Score: 5, Funny

      But in that case it would encapsulate the star - not circle it.

      Yeah, that's what the engineers told the management, too. But the management didn't believe it. So they built it around the planet instead.

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    3. Re:artificial by Gideon+Wells · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I'm sure there is a major flaw in the following hypothesis, but couldn't there be a "dyson sphere" around a planet for different reasons? Dyson Spheres are built around a star as a hypothetical optimal method of complete solar harvesting.

      What if a species not quite that advanced built such a shell around their own world? One flaw is how to best simulate their sun for grass/animals. Holes in the sphere? A series of lights, or a few on a track, that go around the world as needed? It would work best if the species were nocturnal (either by natural or "artificial" evolution at this point). Considering this is "Jupiter sized" then this thing would have enough room for twenty-two Earths to go from one end to another at the equator. There could be a whole planet and moon system inside.

      That much surface area and they might be able to easily simulate their sun on planet for wildlife and then some. According to Wikipedia Jupiter's surface area: 6.1419×1010 km2. Cut that in half since even if the sphere doesn't rotate half of it will be facing their sun, and you have the maximum usable space for solar cells or whatever they are using instead. How much energy would that produce? Unless this thing is a relic left behind, they might not need a full blown Dyson Sphere yet.

      According to the article it is in that star's habital zone. So it is in the right spot if it were a converted habital world. Dyson Sphere may not be the correct term, but the concept itself completely off from what could be here.

      Then again, it could be the universe's largest naturally formed piece of coal or we discovered the home hub of the all consuming nanite swarm.

      --
      by Anonymous Coward: I, for one, welcome the shift from car analogies to pizza analogies. um.. overlords?
  3. Re:All the evidence suggests is by Liinux · · Score: 3, Funny

    That's no moon.

    I find your lack of originality disturbing.

  4. Re:How dark? by maxwell+demon · · Score: 5, Funny

    It is pitch black. Probably the home world of the grues.

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  5. Re:All the evidence suggests is by Mindcontrolled · · Score: 4, Funny

    I see a Death star

    And I want it painted black....

    --
    Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
  6. Kardashev by Dik+Zak · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's also hot in infrared. Isn't this exactly what you would expect to see from a planet with a Kardashev level 1 civilisation?

  7. Re:All the evidence suggests is by itsdapead · · Score: 3, Funny

    I see a Death star

    And I want it painted black....

    Palpatine: absolutely not!
    Anakin: That's SO not fair!!! You're NOT my father!!!

    (Or do rebellious teenage super villains demand to paint their bedroom magnolia?)

    --
    In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
  8. Re:How about #000000 by PhrostyMcByte · · Score: 3

    Nope, they say it reflects "less than 1% of the light falling onto it". So it could be as light as #020202 (but not #030303).

    RGB hex values are gamma compressed—they represent perceived brightness and not actual light. #020202 actually represents about 0.06% the light of #FFF.

    The correct value representing "less than 1%" (assuming #FFF is falling on it) is #191919.

  9. Not discoverd by Kepler by arcctgx · · Score: 4, Informative

    TFA is wrong, the planet was discovered from a ground-based observatory back in 2006: http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0609335

  10. 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.