Plan B Forum

Clouds above Uranus smell like farts and rotten eggs, Oxford researchers declare

As if the name of the planet wasn't enough, scientists recently discovered Uranus is home to fart-smelling clouds.

University of Oxford researchers examining the planet's infrared light through the Gemini North telescope discovered clouds of hydrogen sulfide spreading into Uranus' upper atmosphere. That's a toxic gas that smells like rotten eggs or someone passing gas.

The findings by the U.K. team were published online in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Astronomy Monday.

“If an unfortunate human were ever to descend through Uranus’s clouds, they would be met with very unpleasant and odiferous conditions,” lead author Patrick Irwin said in a release.

Chances are, no one will ever be able to actually smell Uranus' stink, because Irwin said “suffocation and exposure in the negative 200 degrees Celsius atmosphere made of mostly hydrogen, helium, and methane would take its toll long before the smell.”