X

Uranus stench really is the butt of all jokes

The closer you get to it, the more likely you are to smell farts and rotten eggs. It's not just a punchline, it's science.

Eric Mack Contributing Editor
Eric Mack has been a CNET contributor since 2011. Eric and his family live 100% energy and water independent on his off-grid compound in the New Mexico desert. Eric uses his passion for writing about energy, renewables, science and climate to bring educational content to life on topics around the solar panel and deregulated energy industries. Eric helps consumers by demystifying solar, battery, renewable energy, energy choice concepts, and also reviews solar installers. Previously, Eric covered space, science, climate change and all things futuristic. His encrypted email for tips is ericcmack@protonmail.com.
Expertise Solar, solar storage, space, science, climate change, deregulated energy, DIY solar panels, DIY off-grid life projects. CNET's "Living off the Grid" series. https://www.cnet.com/feature/home/energy-and-utilities/living-off-the-grid/ Credentials
  • Finalist for the Nesta Tipping Point prize and a degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Eric Mack
2 min read
7veronarupes.jpg

Artist's rendering of Uranus as seen from its small moon Miranda.

Eric Wernquist/NASA

If there is such a thing as a universal sense of humor, scientists have just confirmed that the universe has the maturity level of a 7 year old. That's because the fact really is that Uranus smells like farts and rotten eggs.

New, highly sensitive observations of the ice giant planet confirm that super-stinky hydrogen sulfide gas swirls around high in its cloud banks. 

Astronomers from the University of Oxford and elsewhere used data from the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii to conclude that Uranus has the odor of sewage or Easter Eggs not found until May.

"If an unfortunate human were ever to descend through Uranus's clouds, they would be met with very unpleasant and odiferous conditions," explains Patrick Irwin from the University of Oxford, in a statement.  

Irwin is lead author on a paper published Monday in Nature Astronomy detailing the fragrant findings.

A 23rd-century tourist guide to the galaxy

See all photos

It's long been debated whether the upper atmosphere of Uranus has that sulfuric stink or is made up more of almost equally stank ammonia like the gas giants Saturn and Jupiter. (We know at least one comet smells like both: bonus!) Conclusive data has been elusive until the Gemini telescope, meant for observing more distant objects like black holes, shifted its eye on the planet. 

Should humans ever make it to Uranus, the smell would be the least of the challenges lurking there.

"Suffocation and exposure in the negative 200 degrees Celsius atmosphere made of mostly hydrogen, helium, and methane would take its toll long before the smell," Irwin says.

This should come as no surprise to many 7-year-olds who have always warned of the potential for suffocation from Uranus. Ha!

Crowd Control: A crowdsourced science fiction novel written by CNET readers.

Solving for XX: The tech industry seeks to overcome outdated ideas about "women in tech."