A scientific paper titled Methane in the atmosphere of warm exoplanet WASP-80b The paper was recently published by a team led by Bay Area Environmental Research Institute researcher Taylor Bell. Bell discovered that WASP-80b is a so-called “warm Jupiter” at about 1,025 degrees Fahrenheit. This places this exoplanet between hotter Jupiters like HD 209458 b, the first transiting exoplanet discovered, and cooler Jupiters like Jupiter, which only gets hot to 235 degrees Fahrenheit. To do.
Exoplanet temperatures are important because they are just another piece of the methane puzzle. Because the atmospheres of most exoplanets are severely lacking in methane, whenever scientists discover a methane-bearing planet, they must carefully study every aspect of the planet’s composition. Every methane-producing exoplanet discovered by astronomers plays an important role in helping the scientific community develop theories of its atmosphere.
Researchers involved in the paper say WASP-80b’s temperature is particularly interesting as equilibrium chemistry models predict that there should be detectable CH4 and CO/CO2 signatures in the planet’s transmission and emission spectra. It is said to be located in the transition area. .