Exoplanetary Atmosphere Reveals Glowing Methane

In a groundbreaking, new find, astronomers announce that they've managed to identify glowing methane gas in the atmosphere of an exoplanet. The finding has been made using a ground-based observatory, as opposed to an orbit-based one, so experts believe that many more such discoveries could be in store for us over the coming years. The team behind the findings also says that, if its predictions turn out to be accurate, such methane-related events may actually be a common occurrence around exoplanets.

The new investigation was conducted at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena, California. The JPL science group was led by expert Mark Swain, who revealed that the exoplanet that was the target of the new investigation was one of the first such bodies to have had their atmosphere measured via spectrometry, in previous studies. The exoplanet is known as HD 189733b, and astronomers have already detected carbon dioxide, methane and water vapors in its atmosphere. However, the new study revealed glowing methane, which means that the gas may be resembling the Earth's auroras, the group adds.

Researchers underline the fact that this discovery should have not come like a total surprise. “Indeed, finding glowing methane in the atmosphere of a planet that is tidally-locked with its parent star is unusual, but the instance is not rare. It's not particularly surprising since we have seen fluorescent methane in Jupiter, Saturn and even Titan,” Wesleyan University expert Seth Redfield explains. He has not been involved in the new study, but has accompanied the paper with a commentary. Both pieces were published in the February 4 issue of the esteemed scientific journal Nature.

But the main question on everyone's minds at this point is where this methane originates from. On Earth, it can come from natural phenomena such a volcanism, but it is also being produced in large amounts by animals and microorganisms. Experts now plan to solve this mystery by using more advanced, Earth-based telescopes. Unlike their orbit-based counterparts, these instruments are a lot larger, and can detect more details in their targets. However, they can only conduct accurate observations in certain wavelengths, as most of the spectrum is being absorbed or scattered by the planet's atmosphere, Space reports.