Webb identifies methane in an exoplanet's atmosphere

The James Webb Space Telescope observed the exoplanet WASP-80 b as it passed in front of and behind its host star, revealing spectra indicative of an atmosphere containing methane gas and water vapor. While water vapor has been detected in over a dozen planets to date, until recently, methane--a molecule found in abundance in the atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune within our solar system--has remained elusive in the atmospheres of transiting exoplanets when studied with space-ba...