Scientists discover light-eating dark planet

Josh King

Sep 16th 2017 1:38PM

Using Hubble’s Space Telescope, researchers have found a planet so dark that it absorbs 94 percent of the light that reaches it.

Teams from McGill University, Canada, and the UK’s Exeter University have been using Hubble’s spectrograph to measure the amount of light this dark planet reflects.

The exoplanet known as Wasp-12b is referred to as a “hot Jupiter” because it’s a gas giant that orbits incredibly close to its sun. It’s fairly rare because most planets usually have one side that is cooler, which allows clouds to form and reflect more light into space. But even with this occurring on Wasp-12b, it only reflects back 6% of the light it absorbs.

Initially discovered in 2008, it was revealed in 2010 that the planet’s atmosphere had ballooned to be 40 times that of Jupiter’s. Which sadly means this dark planet will eventually be swallowed up by its star.

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Greatest natural wonders of the world to remind you how wonderful Planet Earth truly is

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North America, day and night, satellite image of the Earth

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Aerial views of The Great Barrier Reef are seen from above in Cairns, Australia. A recent report by marine scientist Charlie Veron claims that the reef will be so degraded by warming seas that it will be gone within 20 years, and that this situation is now irreversible. He goes on to predict that once carbon dioxide levels hit levels predicted between 2030 and 2060, that all reefs will become extinct and their ecosystems would collapse.

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An aerial picture of the Grand Canyon in Arizona taken from around 30,000 feet (10,000m).

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Aerial view taken of Angel Falls, the world's highest waterfall, with a height of 979 meters (3,212 feet), located in Canaima National Park, South-Eastern Venezuela. The falls are 500 feet wide at the base. They got their name from American pilot James Angel, who saw the waterfall for the first time in 1933 while searching for the Gold City.

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View of the 'Grand Prismatic' hot spring with it's unique colors caused by brown, orange and yellow algae-like bacteria called Thermophiles, that thrive in the cooling water turning the vivid aqua-blue to a murkier greenish brown, in the Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Yellowstone National Park was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Grant on March 1, 1872. The park is located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, though it also extends into Montana and Idaho and was the first national park in the world. It is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially the Old Faithful Geyser.

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This picture shows an aerial view of Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain which is 8,848 meters (29,028 feet) high. In 1994, a research team discovered that the mountain is continuing to grow by about 0.16 inches every year. In 1978, Reinhold Messenger and Peter Habler were the first to ever climb the mountain without oxygen.

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Aerial view of the Amazon Rainforest, Acre State, Brazil.The Amazon is home to more than 2 and a half million different species, and is the largest rainforest in the world. It's estimated that 10% of total animal species lives in the vastly diverse Amazon Rainforest. The Amazon basin is so large that it covers 40% of the South American continent.

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The Wave is a sandstone rock formation. It is located near the Arizona-Utah border, on the slopes of the Coyote Buttes, in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, on the Colorado Plateau. It is famous among hikers and photographers for its colorful, undulating forms, and the rugged, trackless hike required to reach it.

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View of the south wall of the Perito Moreno glacier in the Park and National Reservation Los Glaciares, an ecotourism destination in Patagonia, Argentina, declared by the UNESCO as Natural World Heritage Site. The glacier Perito Moreno, in the province of Santa Cruz, is one of the most significant natural attractions of Argentina 30km (20 miles) long and with a total surface of 257 km2 (160 square miles). The magnitude of this mass of ice, seems to float on lake Argentino some 70 meters (230 feet) above the water surface.

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Tanzania, The world famous Ngorongoro Crater. Its 102-square-mile crater floor is the haunt of a wonderful wildlife spectacle. The crater is in fact a caldera -- the largest unbroken, unflooded caldera in the world -- which was formed two and a half million years ago.

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View of the Fly Geyser in Nevada. This odd-looking geyser lies on the edge of Black Rock Desert and was accidentally made by mankind. While drilling for a well, geothermal boiling water, which can hit 200 degrees Fahrenheit, was struck. Because this waster wasn't suited for farming, it was left alone. A second geyser was created when an energy company was drilling and struck the same geothermal heated water.

Now, Fly Geyser exists 40 years later and has grown substantially. However, the geyser is not open to the public, seeing as it sits on private property.

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Aerial view of the Great Blue Hole, Belize, Central America. This natural wonder is located off the coast of Belize, and is widely known as a diver's paradise. The hole originated as a limestone cave that began to form some 150,000 years ago. The deepest point of the Blue Hole is at 406 feet, and it is shaped as almost a perfect circle.

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Pamukkale, Turkey. Meaning 'Cotton Palace' in English, Pamukkale is a famous site in Turkey for its natural spring and water formations. Calcite waters have created a unique landscape made of mineral forests and petrified waterfalls.

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Autumn colors of Natural reserved area in Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan, China. The area is known in English as the "Nine Valley Village" and is a national park in South Western China. The landscape is vast -- from mountains to waterfalls and forests. The park covers 72,000 ha, or 277 sq. miles.

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A picture shows tourist posing for a photo next to the General Sherman Giant Sequoia at Sequoia National Park in California. With an estimated volume of 1,487 cubic metres (52,513 cu ft), General Sherman sequoia is the largest tree on earth. The tree's height is 83.8 metres (275 ft), its diameter - 7.7 metres (25 ft) and its estimated age - 2,3002,700 years.

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The Blue Grotto is located on the coast of the island of Capri, in Southern Italy. It's is one of several sea caves, worldwide, that is flooded with a brilliant blue or emerald light. The quality and nature of the color in each cave is determined by the particular lighting conditions in that specific cave.

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This photo shows the 'Top of Peak' formation at the Huangshan (Yellow Mountains) park in Anhui Province. The UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of China's major tourist destinations and has been a source of inspiration to Chinese painters, writers and poets for thousands of years.

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Aerial view of Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River (UNESCO World Heritage List, 1989), Zimbabwe. These falls are among the most spectacular in the world, and expand over 14 sq. miles. Sprays from the majestic Victoria Falls can be seen from 18 miles away.

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The Danakil Depression is located in the Danakil Desert in Ethiopia, and is known as one of the 'cruelest places on Earth.' Record temperatures have been recorded here, breaking 120 degrees Fahrenheit. The depression lies 150 ft below sea level and is characterized by active volcanoes, a living lava lake, geysers, acid ponds, and mounds of sulfur deposits.

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Picture taken shows a tourist visiting the Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat, located in Bolivia near the crest of the Andes, some 3,650 metres above sea level.

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