Scientists Discover Exoplanet That Smells Of Rotten Eggs

Scientists keep discovering new things. In a recent discovery, astronomers found that a ‘hot Jupiter’ planet, very close to Earth, has been ‘stinking like rotten eggs’. The astronomers, using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), have discovered this abrupt environment on the planet.

Scientists say that this is a very rare planet. The temperature here is very high, for which it rains glass here. They discovered that the wind here travels at 8046 kilometres per hour. Scientists have clearly stated that in these conditions, life can’t exist here.

Why Does It Smell Like Rotten Eggs?

This exoplanet, named HD 189733 b, is only 64 lightyears away from Earth. It means that it will take 64 years to reach there at the speed of light. Scientists, as per their calculations, believe it to be a planet quite close to Earth. They say that this planet is full of hydrogen and hydrogen sulfide. It is the prime reason why this planet smells like rotten eggs.

According to the most recent study, scientists discovered carbon dioxide, oxygen, water, and several heavy metals in the atmosphere of this exoplanet using the James Telescope.

But apart from this, the presence of poisonous and flammable hydrogen sulfide gas in the atmosphere also surprised the astronomers. This is a toxic and flammable colourless gas that gets released when organic matter decays on Earth.

According to the researchers, gas is rarely found outside of the solar system, and very little of it has been detected in the region between stars and the interstellar medium.

The exoplanet HD 189733 b is a huge gas giant that is present in the Vulpecula constellation, around 64 light-years away from Earth. The planet orbits extremely close to its home star, roughly 13 times closer than Mercury orbits the sun, and one orbit is completed every two days.

As a result, the exoplanet’s surface can become very heated, reaching 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit (925 degrees Celsius).

The planet has also been known to have molten glass rains, and winds here may reach speeds of 500 mph (800 km/h), three times faster than a Category 5 hurricane on Earth.