NASA Visualization: Take a Whiff of This Stinky Planet
The visual wonders of the universe range from awe-inspiring comets streaking our night skies to the ethereal spirals of faraway galaxies. But in the glittering tapestry of the cosmos, there's one locale—a giant gaseous exoplanet—that may put you off with its revolting smell of rotten eggs.
An international team of scientists has published a new paper in the journal Nature about this smelly exoplanet, dubbed HD 189733b. Using the James Webb Space Telescope, they characterized its unique chemical composition, discovering hydrogen sulfide—a toxic gas that smells like rotten eggs and hasn't been detected outside our solar system until now.
Found in 2005 and located about 64 light-years away, HD 189733b is 10 percent larger than Jupiter. After training the James Webb on the exoplanet, scientists were surprised to find hydrogen sulfide, a gas also present on Jupiter, leading to predictions that other gas giants might harbor the same chemical.
"The high precision and infrared capability from the Webb telescope allow us to detect hydrogen sulfide for the first time on exoplanets, opening a new spectral window into studying exoplanet atmospheric sulfur chemistry," Johns Hopkins University astrophysicist and the paper's lead author, Guangwei Fu, told CNN. "This helps us understand what exoplanets are made of and how they came to be."
A Deadly Place
HD 189733b is also notable for its dangerously close orbit to its star, even closer than Mercury is to our Sun. Despite its peaceful blue hue, this exoplanet is a fiery hell with average temperatures around 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit.
What's wild about this planet is its super fierce winds, with speeds as high as 5,400 mph, making Earth's hurricanes look like calm breezes. The wind carries a deadly surprise—glass-like rain falling sideways at such rapid speeds that the precipitation could slice anything into pieces.
While visiting this hostile world would be a terrible idea, we can at least admire it from afar, thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope.
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