As far as planetary puns go, Uranus is some seriously low-hanging fruit. So it¡¯s with great joy in the hearts of all our five-year-old inner selves that we can finally say: Yes, Uranus does in fact smell like butt.
After probably decades of people making this joke, scientists at the University of Oxford discovered we weren¡¯t wrong at all. They found a particular molecule in the atmosphere called Hydrogen Sulphide. For those of you that have forgotten your school Chemistry lessons, that¡¯s the chemical with a smell officially described as ¡°rotten eggs¡±, though most of us just call it fart gas.
Of course, the scientists weren¡¯t looking to pinpoint a stench, but were studying Uranus¡¯ atmosphere for information on how planets form. After all, Uranus and Neptune formed much further away from the Sun than Earth, or even Saturn, in a colder part of our system.
In the past, researchers have guessed at the composition of the clouds near the planet¡¯s surface, hypothesizing they were hydrogen sulphide or ammonia. However, that was just based on inferences they were drawing from light hitting Uranus. This time around, the Oxford team used the Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrometer in Hawaii to look deep into the planet¡¯s atmosphere, where they measured more hydrogen sulphide than ammonia, as well the presence of the exact composition of the former required to produce a rotten egg smell.
In fact, the scientists say astronauts entering Uranus¡¯ atmosphere would absolutely notice the smell. It does give them a lot of information however, about how Uranus and Neptune remained ice giants while Jupiter and Saturn formed into gas giants. Let¡¯s just hope we don¡¯t intend to colonize the planet then anytime soon though.