Let’s all take a moment to reflect on the moment when we first learned there’s a legit planet floating out there in our solar system named “Uranus”.
Personally, my awakening took place while I was watching an episode of Sailor Moon with my older cousin and I lost my mind at the introduction of Moon’s faithful friend, Sailor Uranus, prompting my more mature cousin to tell me to stop laughing because Uranus is a very real planet.
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Most of you probably found out the old fashioned way during an introductory astronomy lesson in elementary school. And at the very moment your teacher said the word “Uranus”, I’m sure there wasn’t a single student who wasn’t falling out of their chair in hysterics.
There’s definitely never been any shortage on “Uranus” jokes, but as it turns out, one of our silly quips is an actual scientific FACT.
Experts have now confirmed that the very unfortunately named planet of Uranus actually smells like farts, so I expect a full apology from my fifth grade teacher who collectively scolded my class for being so “immature” when we said the exact same thing .
Researchers at the University of Oxford recently, reveal Uranus’ atmosphere largely consists of hydrogen sulfide.
Although they didn’t quite word it this way in their study published in the journal Nature Astronomy , this is exactly the same compound that makes farts stink so darn bad.
So basically, there are a bunch of fart clouds floating around Uranus and I don’t know if I’ve ever written anything so glorious.
Scientists have suspected as such for a while, but were only recently able to prove this as legit fact.
From the sounds of things, they found this out thanks to some interplanetary detective work.
Study lead author Patrick Irwin told CBC Radio new measurements show “the fingerprints of hydrogen sulfide above the clouds.”
He added that if it were possible for someone to actually survive the fall down to Uranus, they’d smell “rotten eggs.”
While this discovery has opened the door for plenty of jokes, it’s also rather a significant one.
In fact, it could unlock secrets about how and where planets in our solar system were formed.
Compositional differences in the planets could indicate that some formed farther away before migrating to their current spots.
As funny as it is to know Uranus smells like farts, its hilarious atmosphere is the epitome of “silent but deadly”.
In large enough quantities, hydrogen sulfide is lethal and could kill humans.
But of course, anyone who found themselves on Uranus without a spacesuit wouldn’t exactly have a chance to give the air a good ol’ sniff — the -300°F temperatures and hydrogen, helium, and methane gases would kill them off pretty quickly. So, you know, there’s that.
h/t: Nature Astronomy , CBS Radio
