We study the optical properties of anthropogenic sulfate aerosols containing black carbon using a recently developed exact solution of the scattering problem for a spherical particle (sulfate aerosol) containing an eccentrically located spherical inclusion (black carbon). We present the expression for the change of planetary albedo due to addition of an absorbing, but optically thin aerosol layer and estimate the effect of the black carbon within the sulfate aerosol layer on the aerosol direct radiative forcing. The black carbon within the sulfate aerosol reduces the expected sulfate direct cooling effect by about 0.034 W/m2 for each 1% of the black carbon to sulfate mass mixing ratio. Thus the presence of black carbon within sulfate in the background aerosol does not significantly change the previous estimates of the global aerosol direct cooling effect. However, in regions where the black carbon in sulfate concentrations are of the order of 5% or more, the local and regional effects are significant. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1995