Researchers say people on Earth are lucky to be 64 light years away from a planet that’s scorching hot and smells like rotten eggs.
Planet HD 189733b is a gas giant planet discovered in 2005, according to NASA.
“This faraway blue planet may look like a benign haven, but don’t be fooled! The weather here is hazardous,” the U.S. government agency said. “The planet’s cobalt blue color results from a hazy, windswept atmosphere that contains glassy clouds.”
The study was published Monday in the journal Nature A new discovery about HD 189733b has been made: its pungent odor. New data from the James Webb Space Telescope has detected traces of hydrogen sulfide, a gas known for its rotten egg-like smell in low concentrations. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
“Certainly, the stench will add to the reputation of an already notorious planet. It’s not a planet we want to visit, but it is a valuable target for improving our understanding of planetary science,” said Guangwei Hu, an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and lead author of the study published in Nature. Reuters.
Hydrogen sulfide is also known to be “highly flammable and highly toxic,” according to OSHA.
HD 189733b is a “hot Jupiter” planet
This planet is “Hot JupiterHD 189733b is a “gas giant similar to Jupiter, but much hotter because it’s closer to its star,” according to NASA. HD 189733b orbits its star 170 times closer than Jupiter does, according to the government agency. While it takes Jupiter 12 years to complete one orbit around the sun, the planet completes one revolution every two days.
“Hot Jupiters are very rare,” Hu said, citing Reuters, “They exist in less than one in 100 star systems.”
Jupiter’s atmosphere contains trace amounts of hydrogen sulfide, but not as much as HD 189733b. Jupiter’s diameter and mass are about 10% larger than Jupiter’s, according to NASA.
HD 189733b is easy to study because of its close proximity to Earth
HD 189733b’s smell isn’t known, but its closeness to Earth allows researchers to study it more closely.
“Its close distance makes it bright and easy to study in detail,” Fu told Reuters. “For example, the detection of hydrogen sulfide reported here would be much harder to make on other distant planets.”
So far, HD 189733b is the first exoplanet with signatures of hydrogen sulfide.
