Is it possible for a gas giant planet's primary color to be black?

Question

If the answer is no, why not?

Answer 1

maybe...

Jupiter has a number of reddish and brownish color bands because the atmosphere contains lots of organic compounds. Many larger organic compounds are brown or black, but the chemistry is complex. I would not expect such complex chemistry to be possible on a gas giant, except perhaps in the presence of life.

One other possibility is carbon dust. Elemental carbon is fairly common and many asteroids and commets are dark in color because they are covered in dark carbon dust. However, carbon particules are far more dense than gas molecules, and a gas giant's enormous gravity would tend to condence any solid material at the core of the planet.

There is a kind of "gas giant" which is probably very dark in color. It is called a neutron star. Ordinary stars fuse all their hydrogen to helium, then carbon and finally iron. The ones too small to explode into supernovas or collapse into black holes form neutron stars at the end of their lives. This will probably be the fate of our own sun. It will eventually condense into a sphere the size of the earth, although it will still have most of its initial mass. It won't be made of gas though, but mostly carbon and an iron core. It will probably be a solid black color though, and have an absolutly smooth surface because of the enormous gravity. Sort of like a giant billiard ball.

Answer 2

Gas giants have dust in their atmospheres, and that might make their albedo small, but it's not clear that would make it actually look "black". The Moon's albedo is small, and it looks pretty darn bright in the night sky.

Certainly a gas giant could be a sort of grey-brown unattractive color, but a nice crisp fashonable black is probably not possible.

Answer 3

black isnt a color. black is the absence of color and light. so for a planet to be black it would have to reflect absolutely no visible light. its impossible.

for a terrestrial planet its possible, it could be made out of 100% carbon, which is black (ish), you could still see it with a big enoguh telescope. thats pretty rare, almost impossible. gas planet would be impossible cuz i dont think there is any black gas.

Answer 4

It theoretically possible, though I don't know what type of gas would produce that type of result visually. And if there exists a black planet, it would be very hard to detect, at least on the visual level.

Answer 5

If a gas planet was black we would not be able to see it, just like a black hole, they are completely invisible. It's like finding a black cockoroach in the night time

Answer 6

No; black isn't a color: it is simply the absence of light. Nothing is a perfect absorber of light, so there will always be something visible -- if you have a strong enough telescope to see it.

Answer 7

If it was composed largely of a black gas...

Answer 8

Of course, if it was black, we'd never see it.