(WAND) – NASA’s latest discovery might make you laugh a little.
The organization reported this week that the planet Uranus literally stinks, as help from a powerful telescope led them to discover hydrogen sulfide in the planet’s cloud deck. That gas produces the same smell behind rotten eggs and human farts.
Glenn Orton, who works with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., used infrared light captured with Hawaii’s Gemini North telescope to make the discovery. NASA says the findings clear up questions about the history and formation of Uranus.
“We’ve strongly suspected that hydrogen sulfide gas was influencing the millimeter and radio spectrum of Uranus for some time, but we were unable to attribute the absorption needed to identify it positively. Now, that part of the puzzle is falling into place as well,” Orton said.
Uranus has different gasses than planets closer to the sun. Jupiter and Saturn have ammonia above their clouds instead.
Patrick Irwin, a man from the University of Oxford, was lead author on publication of the findings, which were in the April 23 issues of Nature Astronomy. He says people wouldn’t have to worry about the horrible smell, because they’d die from something else on the planet much faster.
“Suffocation and exposure in the negative 200 degrees Celsius [392 degrees Fahrenheit] atmosphere made of mostly hydrogen, helium and methane would take its toll long before the smell,” he said.
