Because rogue planets are in interstellar space not orbiting a star providing light, and putting aside temperature and them obviously not being habitable, on the surface, would it be complete darkness? Was watching a video about our sun disappearing and what would happen and just wondered about this. Are there any atmospheric conditions/reactions that would provide some some sort of visibility, or would you just be in compete blackness with only the stars of the galaxy above you to see?
In: Planetary Science
Outside of a very young planet that’s still covered in lava lakes, yes it would be dark.
Whether you’d see the night sky or not would depend on atmospheric conditions – the planet could still retain a thick atmosphere if it’s large enough.
There are a couple possible sources of light that would develop occasionally. A rocky rogue planet would, at least for a while, have active volcanoes. So there would be the glow of lava during eruptions, though it would only be visible locally.
A planet with a thick atmosphere, such as a gas giant, would still have some internal heat that could cause convection in its atmosphere, potentially producing lightning.
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