Here's why Uranus smells like farts and rotten eggs, scientists confirm
According to a recent study, scientists revealed that the atmosphere above the planet Uranus contains a gas which almost smells like rotten eggs — or a fart-like smell. The reason behind such a smell is that, the planet is enveloped with a chemical composition containing hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, scientists revealed, in the paper published in Nature Astronomy.
The recent study is significant as it will help the scientists and astronomers understand how the early solar system was formed and how it evolved over time.
The scientists used an instrument called the Near-Infrared Integral Field Spectrometer (NIFS) at the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii, determined that the planet Uranus is composed of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas, which is what gives rotten eggs their distinctive, noxious scent.
“If an unfortunate human were ever to descend through Uranus’s clouds, they would be met with very unpleasant and odiferous conditions,” said study co-author Patrick Irwin of the University of Oxford, according to the BBC.
“During our Solar System’s formation the balance between nitrogen and sulfur (and hence ammonia and Uranus’s newly-detected hydrogen sulfide) was determined by the temperature and location of planet’s formation,” Leigh Fletcher, a member of the research team from the University of Leicester in the UK, said. “Only a tiny amount remains above the clouds as a saturated vapour. And this is why it is so challenging to capture the signatures of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide above cloud decks of Uranus.”
“The superior capabilities of Gemini finally gave us that lucky break,” he added.
Scientists used data from the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii to take a long-distance sniff of the atmosphere above the clouds of Uranus and solve one of the stinkiest mysteries of the Solar System.
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First published: 24 April 2018, 18:11 IST