Astronomers have discovered what they claim is the darkest known planet - a distant,Jupiter-sized gas giant known as TrES-2b. An international team says the exoplanet reflects less than 1 per cent of light,which makes it blacker than coal or any planet or moon in our solar system,the 'Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society' reported. TrES-2b is considerably less reflective than black acrylic paint,so it's truly an alien world, said David Kipping of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics,who led the team that made the discovery by analysing data from NASA's Kepler spacecraft. TrES-2b,a gas exoplanet roughly the size of Jupiter,is around 750 light years away and was discovered in 2006 by the Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey. It orbits its star at a distance of only 5 million kilometres. It orbits the star GSC 03549-02811 located about 750 light years away in the direction of the constellation Draco. The exoplanet lacks reflective clouds due to its high temperature. Instead,its exotic atmosphere contains light-absorbing chemicals,such as vaporized sodium and potassium or gaseous titanium oxide. Yet,none of these chemicals fully explain the extreme blackness of TrES-2b. It's not clear what is responsible for making this planet so extraordinarily dark. However,it's not completely pitch black. It's so hot that it emits a faint red glow,much like a burning ember or the coils on an electric stove, team member David Spiegel of Princeton University said.
