NASA astronauts used technology to determine that Uranus likely smells like rotten eggs. Yuck!
Class Discussion Questions:
1) Why are some planets called gas giants?
2) What does the name "extremophile" tell us about the organisms who have that name?
Read the Script:
Turns out, one of the planets in our solar system has some major celestial body odor. Can you guess who's a gas giant in more ways than one? I'll tell ya!
Unless you like plugging your nose, you're lucky we don't live on Uranus. Why? Well, because the seventh planet from the sun is in a stinky situation. It smells like rotten eggs, nasty! How do we know this? Well, NASA scientists made the discovery through a high tech sniff test, which they revealed in the journal, Nature Astronomy. Until now, scientists have only speculated about the gasses that lie in the blue-green clouds of Uranus. From the looks of it, you might imagine it smells like cotton candy or blueberries, but nope. NASA scientists in Hawaii used their Gemini telescope to check out the situation. How do you use a telescope to see a smell? Well, the 26 foot telescope is equipped with,
Voice-over: A near-infrared integral field spectrometer.
NIFS for short. This special tool is able to analyze the sunlight reflected from Uranus' atmosphere, and what they found is evidence of hydrogen sulfide, H2S. Now, unlike our friendly hydrogen dioxide, H2O, commonly called water, hydrogen sulfide is a chemical with a less than pleasant scent. It's best described as a smell of rotten eggs, so really stinky, and too much of it can be poisonous for most animals, so you and I definitely couldn't breathe in the atmosphere of Uranus.
However, down here on earth there are a few odd animals that can survive in places with lots of hydrogen sulfide. They're called extremophiles. An extremophile is an animal capable of living in extreme conditions. Like places that are super hot or under high pressure. Now, high levels of hydrogen sulfide are found around certain vents in the bottom of our ocean, and there are a few species of fish and bacteria that like to hang out there. They must not have good noses. Whether they could adapt to live on Uranus is yet to be seen, but as for you and me, there are still more dangers there than a stinky smell, like there isn't enough air to breathe and it's colder than minus 300 degrees Fahrenheit. So yeah, we might not be sniffing the seventh planet, but come on Uranus, how about a little deodorant?
Learn a little more...with a link!
Website: NASA, Mars | Follow NASA's latest mission to Mars.
Online Game: NASA, SpacePlace, Adventure to Mars | Can you take this trip and reach the Red Planet?
Encyclopedia Article: INFOhio, World Book Student, Solar System | Facts about the part of the galaxy Earth and Mars call home. May require sign-in.