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WASP-104b is Darker than Charcoal
By analysing the K2 short-cadence data from Campaign 14 we detect phase-curve modulation in the light curve of the hot-Jupiter host star WASP-104. The ellipsoidal modulation is detected with high significance and in agreement with theoretical expectations, while Doppler beaming and reflection modulations are detected tentatively. We show that the visual geometric albedo is lower than 0.03 at 95% confidence, making it one of the least-reflective planets found to date. The light curve also exhibits a rotational modulation, implying a stellar rotational period likely to be near 23 or 46 days. In addition, we refine the system parameters and place tight upper limits for transit timing and duration variations, starspot occultation events, and additional transiting planets.
WASP-104b's albedo was previously thought to be 0.4 (absorbing 60% of incoming light).
Also at ScienceAlert.
Related: NASA Finds a Pitch-Black Hot Jupiter Exoplanet (WASP-12b)
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday April 25 2018, @09:32PM
95% confidence has just as much meaning as the methods behind it. These guys are guessing, they are guessing better than anyone else on the planet could guess, but they have such a limited amount of data collected in such a novel way that there's not even a good absurd analogy about determining the eye color of a fruit fly on the other side of a football stadium with nothing but your 20-200 eyesight and three mirrors.
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