This planet is so dark, scientists have to guess what it looks like

Named WASP-104b, the planet absorbs 97-99% of the starlight that hits its surface.

A BUG?
No. It is an exoplanet orbiting the star WASP-104.


WHAT’S AN EXOPLANET?
A planet which orbits a star outside the solar system.

AND WHAT ABOUT WASP-104B?
It is considered to be one of the darkest exoplanets discovered. A group of astronomers using NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope have discovered this 'pitch black' planet.

TELL ME MORE.
WASP-104b was first discovered in 2014, when it was thought to absorb 60% of light, but a recent study at Keele University now suggests that it absorbs more than 97% of the light from its host star, due to a thick atmosphere of sodium and potassium. It's also tidally locked, which means the same side of WASP-104b is always facing its star.

WHAT ARE THE OTHER SUCH PLANETS?
The only other two exoplanets that has been considered to be darker are TrES-2b and WASP-12b.

DESCRIBE WASP104B, PLEASE.
It is a Hot Jupiter exoplanet with a mass of 1.272 and the radius of 1.137 the times of Jupiter. It has a low density and could be composed of gas. By size, it resembles Jupiter. It is 12.5 bigger than the size of Earth.

HOT JUPITER?
Hot Jupiters are a class of giant extrasolar planets that are inferred to be physically similar to Jupiter but that have very short orbital period. The close proximity to their stars and high surface-atmosphere temperatures resulted in the moniker 'hot Jupiters'.

ARE ASTRONAUTS GETTING THERE ANYTIME SOON?
It is 470 light years away. It might take a little while to get there.