Why Does Uranus Stink?

It's not a joke: Scientists have confirmed that Uranus stinks. Learn how they found out -- and why it's actually really cool -- in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works. Hey, brain stuff,
Lauren vogelbamb here. Urinus stinks and I'm not joking. This
enigmatic Outer Solar System planet has long had a credibility problem,
with it being the butt of countless immature jokes. Now
astronomers have discovered a gas in Urinas's clouds that does

(00:24):
nothing to curtail this humor at all. Thanks science, The
newest study published in the journal Nature Astronomy has discovered
the chemical signature of hydrogen sulfide in the planet's clouds,
a compound that gives rotten eggs their distinctive stench. Besides
launching a bevy of new puns, this finding could transform

(00:44):
or understanding of how our Solar System evolved. It may
also help us to understand the atmospheres of massive planets
orbiting other stars. A first a bit of background. Uranus
has only been visited by a spacecraft once, when NASA's
Voyager to zipped past the planet in nineteen The fly
by produced many beautiful and iconic views of this almost featureless,

(01:06):
light blue world, and astronomers have made countless ground based
observations of Uranus in hopes of better understanding the composition
of its atmosphere. Despite these efforts, however, we know little
about this far away planet. But the discovery of hydrogen
sulfide is a big step forward, and it could only
be done using one of our planets most powerful observatories.

(01:27):
Using the near infrared integral field spectrometer that's attached to
the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii, astronomers were able to
detect the very slight spectroscopic signature of hydrogen sulfide in
the uppermost layers of uranus is clouds. This whiff of
hydrogen sulfide is only the tip of the ode differous iceberg. However,
the presence of this gas is indicative of a huge

(01:49):
reservoir below the obscuring cloud deck. Co investigator Lee Fletcher
of the University of Leicester, UK, in a Gemini North statement,
said only a tiny amount of hydrogen sulfide remains above
the clouds as saturated vapor, and this is why it's
so challenging to capture the signatures of ammonia and hydrogen
sulfide above cloud decks of Uranus. The superior capabilities of

(02:12):
Gemini finally gave us that lucky break Astronomers have long
argued over whether hydrogen sulfide or ammonia dominate Uranus's clouds.
It's well known that the inner massive planets Jupiter and
Saturn have atmospheres dominated by ammonia ice, whereas Uranus and
presumably Neptune do not. It's those very differences in atmospheric

(02:33):
conditions that place Jupiter and Saturn in the gas giant
category and Uranus and Neptune in the ice giant category,
and these differences reveal an insight as to where the
planets formed. As Fletcher said, during our Solar System's formation,
the balance between nitrogen and sulfur and hence ammonia and
Uranus's newly detected hydrogen sulfide, was determined by the temperature

(02:56):
and location of the planet's formation. The thought is that
early in our Solar System's history, the massive planets migrated
from where they initially formed, eventually setting into stable orbits
where we see them today. Through the analysis of chemicals
in their clouds, astronomers can now formulate theories as to
how far away from the Sun these giant worlds formed

(03:18):
and where they migrated from. With this information in mind,
astronomers can then look to other stars and gain an
insight as to how and where giant exoplanets formed. This
is all very interesting, but a big question that scientists
are likely answering right now is if we could inhale
Uranus's atmosphere, would it kill us? The smell would certainly

(03:41):
be unpleasant, but it's not the stench that would kill you.
A lead study author, Patrick Irwin of the University of Oxford,
UK explained in the press release suffocation and exposure in
the negative two hundred degrees Celsie's atmosphere, made mostly of hydrogen,
helium and methane, would take its toll along the or
the smell, So we'll skip the vacation plans, but still

(04:04):
keep an eye on this fascinating, if stinky planet. Today's
episode was written by Ian O'Neill and produced by Tyler
Clang with kind engineering assistance from Ramsay youngt. For more
on this and lots of other far out topics, visit
our home planet, how stuff Works dot com