What do comets smell like?

What do comets smell like?

Scientists have figured out exactly what comets smell like due to chemical analysis of the comet's coma, revealing a distinct stink of ammonia, horse urine, and formaldehyde.

By analyzing the chemical components in comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, scientists at the University in Bern, Switzerland discovered exactly what a comet smells like in outer space.

According to Kathrin Altwegg, a researcher at the University of Bern in Switzerland, “It stinks.”

The European Space Agency posted on its website that the smell is similar to rotten eggs, ammonia, horse urine, alcohol, vinegar, and formaldehyde. Essentially, the comet smells like a dirty barn that’s also used for the storage of homemade liquor and eggs gone bad.

The University of Bern team was able to figure out the comet’s smell using an instrument called ROSINA that is able to analyze chemical components of the comet’s coma, the gassy head surrounding the comet. They found hydrogen sulphide (H2S), ammonia (NH3), formaldehyde (CH2O) and methanol (CH3OH). From this analysis, they were able to deduce what the comet smells like.

However, anyone visiting the comet would wear a spacesuit that blocks out the sense of smell. Furthermore, sense of smell is notoriously numb in space. Astronauts have reported losing their senses of smell and taste while floating in zero gravity.

The comet’s smell is projected to get stronger as it passes closer to the Sun and begins to release more gas, said Altwegg.

The European Space Agency study of the comet’s smell is part of the longer Rosetta mission, in which the ESA will attempt to land a rover on the comet on November 12.

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