black comet

"the flyby of Deep Space 1 of comet Borrelly has revealed that comet nuclei are the blackest thing known in the solar system"

Is this quote true? How can it be more black than black

1. Black means absorbs light. The blacker something is, the more light it absorbs. Also relates to the radiation curve.

2. Where's the source for this?

The blackest thing in our solar system? is it like a blackhole/comet?

I guess what's more interesting is the Deep Space 1 spacecraft sent to look at it. It tested out an ION engine as one of its mission objectives.
Pretty cool...

nmp.jpl.nasa.gov...

Originally posted by Ghaele
"the flyby of Deep Space 1 of comet Borrelly has revealed that comet nuclei are the blackest thing known in the solar system"

Is this quote true? How can it be more black than black

This may be way off topic but a while back my dad told me some paint company had invented "dark black" or "darker black." Some color that was even blacker than black, and could be used as ultra non-refelctive paint.

It must be pretty hard to take a picture of something thats blacker than black.. hows that camera on the probe work? Is it like a normal light/shutter type of camera, some light sensor, or is it something else?

It just means that of all known objects, it reflects the least light. The whitest material is to my knowledge titanium dioxide which is around 95% white if my memory serves me, although it is possible to "cheat" this by adding substances that convert UV light into visual light. This makes it possible, depending on your definition of white, to be over 100% white as a surface can reemit more visual light than falls onto it. So those commercials about washing your clothes "whiter than white" are no necessarily as phoney as you may think. Blacker than black is however not possible by definition.

[edit on 13-8-2005 by Simon666]