Located about 750 light-years away in the constellation Draco, this Jupiter-sized gas giant reflects less than 1% of the starlight that hits it. If you could somehow see it up close, it would appear as a near-perfect void—a ball of nothingness hanging in space. "It's darker than the blackest lump of coal, than dark acrylic paint you might paint with," said astronomer David Kipping. "It's bizarre how this huge planet became so absorbent of all the light that hits it."
https://crazyfunfacts.com/letters/a-planet-called-tres-2b-absorbs-99.9-of-all-light-that-hits-it-making-it-the-darkest-object-ever-discovered-in-the-known-universe
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I dub thee Planet Vantablack
A.k.a. Planet Smell the Glove
That’s so crazy. That’s how dark I need my room to be at night when I’m trying to sleep.
An entire planet made of astrophage
“Black as midnight, black as pitch, blacker than the foulest witch”
It’s like, how much more black could this be? And the answer is none. None more black.
If it’s nearly completely dark then how did they find it?
It’s Z’ha’dum I would guess
Solar panels. They are sucking up electricity.
I’m betting bitcoin farming. The people that made the AI that made the solar panels are all dead. Because of the solar panels.
I’ve seen enough Sci-Fi movies. It’s probably an alien civilization that’s trying to hide itself.
Everyone making puns. No one pointing out that they don’t know why this happens. I DO know that if i wanted to make interstellar sign i was here without alerting gthe entire dark forest, this would be a decent idea.
Darker than a black hole? I guess not. So how can it be the darkest object that has ever been discovered?
Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky seems like it’s based on this planet. What if TrES-2b is actually a terrestrial planet and we had to try landing on it? What horrors would we find in the dark?
That is quite bizarre indeed. In my uneducated guess that means either 3 things:
1. The planet is made up of purely vantablack/any other heavily absorbing material. (Likely this)
2. There is some unknown process happening there causing this effect. (Very likely this)
3. Some alien civilizaton trying to min max their energy production. (Unlikely but exciting)
How do they see it if its so dark,
“darkest object ever discovered in the known universe”
…..are you forgetting that black holes are a thing?
Okay but why though?
Edit:
> The planet’s atmosphere likely contains light-absorbing chemicals like vaporized sodium, potassium, and gaseous titanium oxide. But even accounting for all of these, no existing model fully explains why TrES-2b is so impossibly dark. According to Princeton researchers, “something that seems to be present and absorb light hasn’t been accounted for in basic models.” There’s a missing ingredient in the recipe—and we still don’t know what it is.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t black holes be even darker than this “darkest object ever discovered,” since they absorb 100% of light?
Is it darker than vantablack?
It’s the color past ultra-violet. The technical term for it is infrablack. It can be seen quite easily under experimental conditions. To perform the experiment simply select a healthy brick wall with a good run-up, and, lowering your head, charge. The color that flashes in bursts behind your eyes, behind the pain, just before you die, is infra-black.
*This may or may not be from the novel, Good Omens by Gaimen and Pratchett.*
Btw already discovered in 2006.
Fifth Element vibes here.
The very dark evil thing that makes Zorg’s head ooze black liquid.
When they say darkest object ever discovered in the known universe. Does that make it darker than black holes, and if so how?
Jokes aside, what substance could this planet be made of that would reflect this small amount of light?
Should it not glow red hot in infrared ?
Darkest object ever discovered… so black holes stopped existing or what?
**I want the stones.**
“Because it orbits so close to its star—just 3 million miles away, compared to Mercury’s 28 million miles from our Sun—its surface temperature exceeds 1,800°F (980°C). At that temperature, the planet emits a faint, eerie red glow, like a dying ember in the darkness.”
Imagine the thermodynamic properties of a system like that. Planet Rage.
How is it darker than a black hole since no light can escape it? The only thing I can think is that a black hole isn’t considered an object??
This is straight up flavor text material from Stellaris