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September 22, 2025Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences10 citationsOpen Access

A precise metallicity and carbon-to-oxygen ratio for a warm giant exoplanet from its panchromatic JWST emission spectrum

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LWLindsey WiserTBTaylor J. BellMLMichael R. Line

Key Points

  • WASP-80 b’s atmosphere displays significant amounts of H2O, CH4, CO, and CO2, indicating a rich composition near a low-mass star.
  • Confident detections of atmospheric species in WASP-80 b's emission spectrum span from 2.4 to 12 μm, showcasing the capabilities of JWST.
  • Atmospheric metallicity and carbon-to-oxygen ratio estimates suggest WASP-80 b’s formation may align with that of other gas giants.
  • Detection of NH3 remains tentative, highlighting potential for further exploration of atmospheric chemistry in exoplanets.

Abstract

WASP-80 b, a warm sub-Jovian (equilibrium temperature ∼ 820 K, 0.5 Jupiter masses), presents an opportunity to characterize a rare gas giant exoplanet around a low-mass star. In addition, its moderate temperature enables its atmosphere to host a range of carbon and oxygen species (H 2 O, CH 4 , CO, CO 2 , NH 3 ). In this paper, we present a panchromatic emission spectrum of WASP-80 b, the first gas giant around a late K/early M-dwarf star and the coolest planet for which the James Webb Space Telescope has obtained a complete emission spectrum spanning 2.4 to 12 μ m, including NIRCam F322W2 (2.4 to 4 μ m) and F444W (4 to 5 μ m), and MIRI LRS (5 to 12 μ m). We report confident detections of H 2 O, CH 4 , CO, and CO 2 , and a tentative detection of NH 3 . We estimate WASP-80 b’s atmospheric metallicity and carbon-to-oxygen ratio and compare them with estimates for other gas giants. Despite the relative rarity of giant planets around low-mass stars, we find that WASP-80 b’s composition is consistent with other hot gas giants, suggesting that the formation pathway of WASP-80 b may not be dissimilar from hot gas giants around higher-mass stars.

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Cite This Study

Wiser et al. (2025) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/68d46fdc31b076d99fa6a67ehttps://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2416193122
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