Space is full of amazing and terrifying places, and one of those places is TrES-2b. A Jupiter-sized gas giant located a little over 750 light years from Earth, the description of TrES-2b sounds a lot like, well, a hell planet.
For starters, it’s dark. I mean, really dark, like the darkest planet ever discovered. For some reason, TrES-2b reflects almost no light. If we could fly up to it, all we’d see is a giant black ball of gas, with perhaps a bit of red tinge here and there.
Why it’s so dark is a mystery. Experts have guessed that it has something to do with the gasses in its atmosphere, perhaps sodium or titanium oxide. But those same experts also say that there may be something going on there that we haven’t discovered yet.
But how do we know that TrES-2b is that dark? It’s far too far away to see, so how do scientists know it’s there. Well, essentially, we watch the star the planet orbits. The idea is that when a planet travels between the star and us, the light from the star would dim. The dimming might be barely noticeable, but it’s something we can measure. That’s how we know TrES-2b is out there.
So we know that TrES-2b is frighteningly and mysteriously dark, but if being so dark isn’t bad enough, TrES-2b is skin-meltingly hot. The hottest planet in our own solar system is Venus at just over 850 degrees Fahrenheit or 465 degrees Celsius. That’s hot enough to melt lead. TrES-2b, on the other hand, makes a day on Venus look like a snow day with its top temperature of 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit or 980 degrees Celsius. Solid glass would turn to goop at those temperatures.
I can’t think of too many things more frightening than finding yourself in a place that is so dark it’s like trying to look through black paint and as hot as a blacksmith’s furnace. Then again, maybe not being able to see wouldn’t be such a bad thing as what would be happening to your body wouldn’t be pretty.