Why Does Uranus Stink?

nothing to curtail this humor at all. Thanks science, The newest study published in the journal Nature Astronomy has discovered the chemical signature of hydrogen sulfide in the planet's clouds, a compound that gives rotten eggs their distinctive stench. Besides launching a bevy of new puns, this finding could transform or understanding of how our Solar System evolved. It may also help us to understand the atmospheres of massive planets

orbiting other stars. A first a bit of background. Uranus has only been visited by a spacecraft once, when NASA's Voyager to zipped past the planet in nineteen The fly by produced many beautiful and iconic views of this almost featureless, light blue world, and astronomers have made countless ground based observations of Uranus in hopes of better understanding the composition of its atmosphere. Despite these efforts, however, we know little

about this far away planet. But the discovery of hydrogen sulfide is a big step forward, and it could only be done using one of our planets most powerful observatories. Using the near infrared integral field spectrometer that's attached to the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii, astronomers were able to detect the very slight spectroscopic signature of hydrogen sulfide in the uppermost layers of uranus is clouds. This whiff of

hydrogen sulfide is only the tip of the ode differous iceberg. However, the presence of this gas is indicative of a huge reservoir below the obscuring cloud deck. Co investigator Lee Fletcher of the University of Leicester, UK, in a Gemini North statement, said only a tiny amount of hydrogen sulfide remains above the clouds as saturated vapor, and this is why it's 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 Astronomers have long argued over whether hydrogen sulfide or ammonia dominate Uranus's clouds. It's well known that the inner massive planets Jupiter and Saturn have atmospheres dominated by ammonia ice, whereas Uranus and

presumably Neptune do not. It's those very differences in atmospheric conditions that place Jupiter and Saturn in the gas giant category and Uranus and Neptune in the ice giant category, and these differences reveal an insight as to where the planets formed. As Fletcher said, 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 the planet's formation. The thought is that early in our Solar System's history, the massive planets migrated from where they initially formed, eventually setting into stable orbits where we see them today. Through the analysis of chemicals in their clouds, astronomers can now formulate theories as to how far away from the Sun these giant worlds formed and where they migrated from. With this information in mind, astronomers can then look to other stars and gain an

insight as to how and where giant exoplanets formed. This is all very interesting, but a big question that scientists are likely answering right now is if we could inhale Uranus's atmosphere, would it kill us? The smell would certainly be unpleasant, but it's not the stench that would kill you.

A lead study author, Patrick Irwin of the University of Oxford, UK explained in the press release suffocation and exposure in the negative two hundred degrees Celsie's atmosphere, made mostly of hydrogen, helium and methane, would take its toll along the or the smell, So we'll skip the vacation plans, but still keep an eye on this fascinating, if stinky planet. Today's episode was written by Ian O'Neill and produced by Tyler

Clang with kind engineering assistance from Ramsay youngt. For more on this and lots of other far out topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works dot com