Photograph of HD 189733b from https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070227.html. (Roberto Molar Candanosa/Johns Hopkins University)
The planet under study, according to NASA, has a cobalt blue hue due to its hazy, burnt atmosphere.
A distant planet known for its terrible weather, according to a new study, also emits the smell of rotten eggs.
Scientists, using data from the James Webb Space Telescope, studied the atmosphere of HD 189733b, which has extremely hot temperatures and precipitation resembling rain made of glass.
According to the researchers, hydrogen sulfide, which is also present on Jupiter, is a major component of HD 189733b’s atmosphere and emits a foul odor. This gas is also released from flatulence.
Its detection there marks one of the first times hydrogen sulfide has been identified on an exoplanet, a planet outside our solar system.
“So, if your nose could function at 1000°C… the atmosphere would smell like rotten eggs,” said Dr. Guangwei Fu, an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins who led the research.
The study was published in the scientific journal Nature.
Although hydrogen sulfide is one of the gases that suggest distant planets might host alien organisms (be habitats for extraterrestrial life), researchers are not looking for life on this planet because it is a gas giant, like Jupiter, and extremely hot.
Nevertheless, they say that finding hydrogen sulfide here is a step towards understanding how planets form.
The James Webb opens a new perspective on analyzing the chemical compositions of distant planets, helping astronomers gain more knowledge about their origins.
“It is a game changer. It truly revolutionizes the field of astronomy. “It delivered on its promised capabilities and even exceeded our expectations in some ways,” said Dr. Fu.
The researcher plans to use the information from the space telescope to study more planets.
The article is a translation of Maddie Molloy’s article from BBC News (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjm901rdyjdo)