A recently published scientific paper titled Methane Throughout the Atmosphere of the Warm Exoplanet WASP-80b was led by researcher Taylor Bell from the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute. Bell’s findings reveal that WASP-80b is categorized as a “warm Jupiter” with an estimated temperature of 1,025 degrees Fahrenheit. This places the exoplanet between the hot Jupiter HD 209458 b and the cold Jupiter in our solar system, with significantly different temperature ranges.
The temperature of the exoplanet is a crucial aspect in understanding its methane levels. Most exoplanets have a noticeable absence of methane in their atmospheres, making any discovery of methane-rich planets a subject of intense scientific study. Each methane-rich exoplanet discovered contributes significantly to the development of atmospheric theories within the scientific community.
WASP-80b’s temperature specifically positions it in “an interesting transitional regime where equilibrium chemistry models predict that there should be detectable CH4 and CO/CO2 features in the planet’s transmission and emission spectra…” as stated by the researchers involved in the paper.
