A planet outside of our solar system has been found to have a foul, rotten-egg smell, and terrible weather.
Upon analysing data gathered by the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists at John Hopkins revealed that the exoplanet HD 189733 b contains the same gas found on Jupiter. It is also released in farts.
HD 189733 b, located about 64.5 light years away from us, is mainly made of the gas hydrogen sulphide, making it the first planet outside of our solar system found to house this matter.
It is also dubbed “hot Jupiter” due to its “scorching temperatures of 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit and is notorious for vicious weather, including raining glass that blows sideways on winds of 5,000 mph,” according to the study.
Dr Guangwei Fu, an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins who led the research, said: “If your nose could work at 1,000C … the atmosphere would smell like rotten eggs.”
“Yes, the stinky smell would certainly add to its already infamous reputation. This is not a planet we humans want to visit, but a valuable target for furthering our understanding of planetary science.”
Despite the gas usually indicating that alien organisms may reside on the planet, researchers said they do not expect to find life as HD 189733 b is a gas giant.
However, this is still a significant discovery in understanding how the formation of planets may take place.
Dr Fu said: “It’s been quite a game changer.
“It’s really revolutionising the field of astronomy. It has delivered the capability promised and it even exceeded our expectations in certain ways.”
Dr Fu also said the information uncovered will be used to study more planets.
The expert added: “We want to know how these kinds of planets got there, and understanding their atmospheric composition will help us answer that question.”
