Kepler finds a dark, dark world

Our favorite -- or at least MY favorite--  planet-hunter, NASA's Kepler spacecraft, has found what may be the darkest planet ever: TrES-2b. 


Reflecting only one percent of the starlight which strikes it, this "hot Jupiter" of a world is a fascinating & as yet inexplicable place.  Read much more about it here, or here.


(And, if you're as fond of H.P. Lovecraft as I am, be glad that this particular mystery is a good 750 light years away.)