Wednesday, August 17, 2011

TrES-2b: Darker than Any Planet or Moon in our Solar System

Astronomers discovered that the planet named TrES-2b was darker than any planet or moon in our solar system. This planet reflects less than one percent of the sunlight falling on it. NASA’s Kepler spacecraft was used by the astronomers to make this observation.

TrES-2b was discovered in 2006 by the Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey. It orbits its star at a distance of only three million miles. The star heats TrES-2b to a temperature of more than 1800 degrees Fahrenheit. TrES-2b orbits the star GSC03549, which is located about 750 ligh-years away. It can be observed near the constellation Draco.

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