Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Extrasolar planets

A whiff of methane

Investigations of planets outside our Solar System are becoming ever more sophisticated. The latest development is the discovery of a carbon-containing molecule in the atmosphere of one such extrasolar body.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Methane detection.

References

  1. Swain, M. R., Vasisht, G. & Tinetti, G. Nature 452, 329–331 (2008).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Tinetti, G. et al. Nature 448, 169–171 (2007).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. http://www.transitsearch.org

  4. Fortney, J. J., Saumon, D., Marley, M. S., Lodders, K. & Freedman, R. S. Astrophys. J. 642, 495–504 (2006).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Barman, T. S. Astrophys. J. (in the press); preprint available at http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/0802.0854

  6. Charbonneau, D. et al. Astrophys. J. (submitted); preprint available at http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/0802.0845

  7. Knutson, H. et al. Nature 447, 183–186 (2007).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Cooper, C. S. & Showman, A. P. Astrophys. J. 649, 1048–1063 (2006).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Showman, A. A whiff of methane. Nature 452, 296–297 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/452296a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/452296a

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing