WHAT DOES SPACE AND PLANETS SMELL LIKE?

 

     

MERCURY: Mercury is very similar to our Moon in terms of looks and has a very sparse atmosphere. It smells a bit like sodium but sodium itself does not have any strong scent we conclude that this planet is odourless.

· VENUS: Our neighbour planet smells like rotten eggs because of the high amounts of Sulphur dioxide found on the planet.

· MARS: Humans can’t breathe on Mars; it smells like rotten eggs. This planet is made up of Iron, Sulphur, Magnesium and CO2.

· URANUS: So, recent news says that Uranus smells like sulphurous farts(heinous). Earlier it was thought that because of methane the planet would be odourless, and the gas also gives this planet it’s pretty blue colour. Physicist Patrick Irwin of the University of Oxford concluded that ammonia and Sulphur dominate the planet’s atmosphere.

· JUPITER: Different atmospheric layers define the smell of Jupiter. Majority of this planet is Hydrogen and Helium so owing to that no strong smell but it does have amounts of Ammonia which might smell like urine and hydrogen cyanide which is like bitter almonds.
The reddish shade of this planet is believed to be caused by the presence of organic molecules like PHA’s, acetylene and ethane.

· SATURN AND NEPTUNE: These planets are mainly composed of 2 main gases; Hydrogen and Helium. Hence, these planets are probably odourless.

· SPACE: Of course, no one can smell space because it is just a vacuum. But astronomers claim that space has some distinct smell which they characterize as “hot metal”, “welding fumes”, “sulphurous” and even “walnuts and break pads”.

· MOON: Moon has good amounts of silicon dioxide present on its surface and hence astronauts claim it to smell like gun powder.

Because no human being has visited any of these planets, how do we know what they smell like? Scientists use a variety of techniques, including the examination of their chemical composition and the use of methods such as spectroscopy that track individual light wavelengths emitted by unique molecules. Hydrogen, oxygen, methane, nitrogen etc. all have their own distinctive signatures that emit light. So, when scientists look at the sunlight reflecting off planetary atmospheres, these signatures can be matched to the respective gases and smells are identified based on their abundance.