What would make an alien planet black as coal?

[trez500]

What would make an alien planet so dark that t would be black as coal can be?

New Discovery: The Darkest Alien Planet That is as Black as Coal.

Edited September 25, 2011 by Phi for All
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[Widdekind]

Perhaps the planet has, literally, been "scorched" & "burned black" ??

 

[Phi for All]

What would make an alien planet so dark that t would be black as coal can be?

Redundancy?

 

It's a big gas giant. Part of the reason must be a combination of non-reflective gases.

 

From the CNN story:

 

"TrES-2b is considerably less reflective than black acrylic paint, so it's truly an alien world," astronomer David Kipping of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said in a press release. He is the lead author of a research paper on the dark planet submitted to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

 

Kipping and co-author David Spiegel of Princeton University say TrES-2b is a scalding world, with a temperature of about 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. Its atmosphere probably contains vaporized sodium and potassium, or gaseous titanium oxide, all substances that absorb light but wouldn't alone account for the planet's darkness.

 

"It's not clear what is responsible for making this planet so extraordinarily dark," Spiegel said in a press release. "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."

[minimoman]

Possibly the planet could be made of coal.

[questionposter]

Possibly the planet could be made of coal.

 

If it was coal then that means it had once harbored life which there's no evidence for. It's just elements that happen to absorb optical light really well, which is anything that's black basically, whether its plastic or metal or etc. It doesn't seem to be made a lot of combustible gases either or we'd be seeing more light.

Edited September 26, 2011 by questionposter

[insane_alien]

If it was coal then that means it had once harbored life which there's no evidence for. It's just elements that happen to absorb optical light really well, which is anything that's black basically, whether its plastic or metal or etc. It doesn't seem to be made a lot of combustible gases either or we'd be seeing more light.

 

not really, coal can be formed inorganicly from carbon containing compounds. methane is a common gas in the universe, a few trapped pockets that get taken down near the mantle could conceivably form coal. titan could have coal deposits, it has many hydrocarbon ices and oceans. in its formative years some of this could have been subducted and formed coal, no life needed.

 

it is unlikely to be coal however as it is measured as being blacker than coal.

 

it could be aerosolized carbon black but how this would form i'm not too sure. the atmosphere would likely have to be quite reducing in nature.