WASP-12b

<p>WASP-12b is a <a href="/facts/Hot_Jupiter/9wSFCuxk">hot Jupiter</a> (a class of <a href="/facts/Extrasolar_planet/zjfmqfUf">extrasolar planets</a>) orbiting the <a href="/facts/Star/euBFuo07">star</a> <a href="/facts/WASP-12/H1P00wYw">WASP-12</a>, discovered in April of 2008, by the <a href="/facts/SuperWASP/fp58Y205">SuperWASP</a> planetary <a href="/facts/Astronomical_transit/4s6Mll1a">transit</a> survey. The planet takes only a little over one Earth day to orbit its star, in contrast to about 365.25 days for the <a href="/facts/Earth/HLLmDfj0">Earth</a> to orbit the <a href="/facts/Sun/CadPCVHh">Sun</a>. Its distance from the star (approximately 3.5 million <a href="/facts/Kilometre/hdQp79QE">kilometers</a> [2.2 million <a href="/facts/Mile/e22bY569">miles</a>; 0.023 <a href="/facts/Astronomical_unit/gjsbu5xU">astronomical units</a>]) is only 
  
    
      
        
          
            
              1
              43
            
          
        
      
    
    {\displaystyle \textstyle {\frac {1}{43}}}
  
 the Earth's distance from the Sun, with an <a href="/facts/Orbital_eccentricity/WGlB4NBn">eccentricity</a> the same as <a href="/facts/Jupiter/95m7XjMT">Jupiter</a>'s. Consequently, it has one of the lowest <a href="/facts/Density/92p6hh9I">densities</a> for exoplanets ("inflated" by the flux of energy from the star). On December 3, 2013, scientists working with the <a href="/facts/Hubble_Space_Telescope/NQeIf0vw">Hubble Space Telescope</a> (HST) reported detecting <a href="/facts/Water/0lkXnJPK">water</a> in the <a href="/facts/Atmosphere/oUpLaGRF">atmosphere</a> of the <a href="/facts/Exoplanet/zjfmqfUf">exoplanet</a>. In July 2014, NASA announced finding very dry <a href="/facts/Exoplanet/zjfmqfUf">atmospheres</a> on three exoplanets (<a href="/facts/HD_189733b/Cxur2pca">HD 189733b</a>, <a href="/facts/HD_209458b/HQrmhfLk">HD 209458b</a>, WASP-12b) orbiting sun-like stars.
</p><p>In September 2017, researchers working on the HST announced that WASP-12b reflects just 6% of the light that shines on its surface. As a result, the exoplanet has been described as "black as asphalt" and as "pitch black", although visually it would actually appear intensely bright due to its closeness to its star.
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WASP-12b open-in-new

WASP-12b