Itching to know more about the planets found in outer space? This news might spark interest from those who are. Astronomers Mark Swain and Gautam Vasisht used the Hubble Space Telescope and found something peculiar.

Along with Giovanna Tinetti of University College London, they used the telescope to observe planet HD 189733b, a planet which is slightly larger than Jupiter and is 63 light years away from Earth.

In their observations, they were able to confirm an early detection of water vapor and reveal the presence of methane gas. The planet's really close to its parent star which makes it really hot. In addition to this, Sara Seager of MIT in Cambridge said, "When the temperature is this high, the dominant form of carbon should be carbon monoxide, not methane."

Swain, Vasisht, and Tinetti suggested that an ill-understood chemical process might be responsible for this. It could either concentrate that methane in cooler parts of the planet's atmosphere or generate extra methane directly. On the other hand, Seager noted that the methane could simply mean that the planet's rich in carbon.

The combination of water and organic molecules could promise life if it were found in more hospitable area than the atmosphere of a searing gas planet.

With this new found information, the astronomers hope to be able to analyze the atmospheres of smaller planets that are more like the Earth.