James Webb Space Telescope finds water and methane in atmosphere of a 'warm Jupiter'

An artist's concept of a blue-ish, Jupiter-esque planet with a circle to the right of methane molecules. An arrow shows the methane molecules are technically present in the planet's atmosphere.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has detected methane and water vapor in the atmosphere of a Jupiter-like world located around 163 light-years away.

Astronomers made the discovery by using this powerful infrared space telescope to watch the extra-solar planet or “exoplanet” WASP-80 b pass by the face of its parent red dwarf star, which it orbits roughly once every 3 Earth days.