It was baptized WASP-12b and is in our solar system, 1,400 light years from Earth. The Hubble Space Telescope, from the National Space Agency (NASA), discovered a strange planet that is left completely black because it swallows the light, instead of reflecting it back into space.
According to NASA, the planet is able to trap at least 94% of the visible light that from the stars falls in its atmosphere. The exoplanet, named WASP-12b, is in our solar system, 1,400 light years from Earth. It belongs to the so-called 'hot Jupiter' category. These are gaseous giants that orbit in a relative proximity to their host star and heat to extreme temperatures, explains International Business Times.
Hot atmosphere
The planet's atmosphere is so hot that most molecules are unable to survive on the side of the day, where the temperature is 2537 degrees Celsius. Therefore, there are no clouds that can be formed to reflect the light back into space.
Thus, light penetrates deep into the atmosphere of the planet, where being absorbed by the hydrogen atoms becomes heat energy.
The night side of the planet is a different story. WASP-12b keeps counters one side of day and one side of night, since it orbits so close to the star that blocks of tidal form.
The night side is cooler
The night side is over 1,000 degrees Celsius cooler, allowing water vapor and clouds to form.
Taylor Bell of McGill University and the Institute for Exoplanet Research in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, said that "this new Hubble research demonstrates the great diversity among the strange population of hot Jupiter."
The expert said there may be "planets like WASP-12b with temperatures of 2,537 degrees Celsius and others that are over 1,000 degrees Celsius, and both are called Hot Jupiterers."
Bell said that "previous research suggests that more heat is being pumped into the diurnal side of the planet, but processes that, like the winds, carry the heat to the night side, do not keep pace."
