Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Humor, Jokes, and Riddles True Story! Uranus smells like farts, scientists confirm

And it's no joke! From CBC News - That's the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, for those of you fortunate enough not to have to listen to them.
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Uranus smells like farts, scientists confirm
Study identifies hydrogen sulphide on the icy planet's atmosphere, suggesting it was formed far from the sun
CBC Radio · April 25

New research not only confirms the long-held scientific suspicion that Uranus stinks, but also provides insight into how the planets in our solar system were formed.

Scientists have confirmed that the icy planet's clouds contain hydrogen sulphide — the same gas that produces the foul stench produced by flatulence and rotting eggs — according to a study published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

"If [a person] could survive the fall down to Uranus, they'd smell a horrible smell of rotten eggs," lead author Patrick Irwin, a planetary physics professor at Oxford University, told As It Happens host Carol Off.

"I'm not sure anyone's really looked to see what the human nose would do in a hydrogen-helium atmosphere with a bit of hydrogen sulphide, but I imagine that you would still smell this pungent aroma."

Irwin says scientists have long suspected Uranus was home to hydrogen sulphide, but were unable to confirm it.

"We thought it was probably there," Irwin said.

"But we've never actually been able to absolutely say for certain that it really is until these new measurements we've just made, where we can actually see the fingerprints of hydrogen sulphide above the clouds."

The scientists were able to make the measurements by dissecting the infrared light from Uranus captured by the Gemini North telescope on Hawaii's Mauna Kea.
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http://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/uranus-smells-like-farts-scientists-confirm-1.4633058