What do different objects in space smell like?

Moon and Mercury

The moon is by far the only celestial body that humans have actually sniffed. Apollo 17 astronaut Gene CernanThe Mysterious Smell of Moondust / NASA Science Mission Directorate the scent of her dust samples when I brought them aboard the lander. She smelled strongly of gunpowder, he said. This was confirmed by other participants in the program.

Ions of hydrogen, helium and other chemical elements, combined with silicon dioxide in the lunar soil, break off and dissipate upon contact with oxygen. This causes a peculiar smell - like gunpowder or wet ash.What Does Mars Smell Like? /Space in an extinguished fireplace. But by the time the soil was brought back to Earth, the lunar flavors had worn off.

Mercury, the first planet from the Sun, will smell identical to the Moon. Indeed, according to its chemical composition

The Inner Planets: Mercury, Venus, and Mars / Britannica Educational Publishing He looks like her, even though he's bigger. There is no tangible atmosphere there either: it was blown away by the solar wind. And you can only smell Mercury dust in the laboratory.

Venus

Conditions on Venus are not sugary, because lead is melted there from temperature and pressure. The planet's atmosphere is composed primarily of carbon dioxide, and its surface is coveredThe Planet Venus / NASA dense clouds of sulfuric acid. Under laboratory conditions, it usually has no smell, but, heated by the Venusian heat, it emits a sharp, sour, suffocating stench.

Sulfur dioxide addsT. Spohn, D. Brewer, T. Johnson. Encyclopedia of the Solar System the smell of Venus notes of a smoldering match, and hydrogen sulfide - of rotten eggs. To all this you can add the aroma of phosphineDoes the Presence of a Gas Mean There was Life on Venus? /discovery - it stinks of spoiled fish.

Mars

Mars has a very thin atmosphere, and it is almost impossible to smell smells in it. But if you sniff, you can feelWhat Does Mars Smell Like? /Space pungent sulfur aroma with sweetish notes - something like from a burnt match. And the ubiquitous hydrogen sulfideT. Spohn, D. Brewer, T. Johnson. Encyclopedia of the Solar System with its trail of rotten eggs.

In addition, the dust of Mars contains oxidized iron.Early geochemical environment of Mars as determined from thermodynamics of phyllosilicates / NASA and therefore has a taste and smell of rust.

Jupiter

Jupiter is a gas giantComposition and origin of the atmosphere of Jupiter — an update, and implications for the extrasolar giant planets / NASA mostly hydrogen and helium. These substances are odorless. But also in the chemical composition of the planet in large quantities are hydrogen sulfide, ammonia and phosphine.

So if you were in Jupiter's atmosphere (provided that you have invulnerability), you would smell a monstrous stenchThe smells of space: the planets / Australian Academy of Science: mixture of odors of rotten eggs and intestinal gases (hydrogen sulfide), urine (ammonia) and rotten fish (phosphine).

In places on Jupiter, clouds of poisonous hydrogen cyanide, smelling of bitter almonds and marzipan, also come across. However, depending on the concentration, it can also produce a flavor that is comparable toHydrogen cyanide / PubChem with the spirit of old sneakers.

Saturn

Saturn smells likeR. courtin. The Composition of Saturn's Atmosphere at Temperate Northern Latitudes from Voyager IRIS spectra / Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society same way. Only the smell of urine and cleaning products is somewhat stronger, because the ammonia clouds in the upper atmosphere are more powerful than those of Jovian. In addition, there are abundant accumulationsCassini Discovers Saturn's Dynamic Clouds Run Deep / NASA ammonium hydrosulfide, so that the characteristic smell is added to the above aromas Hair Dye.

Titanium

Titan is the largest moon of Saturn. And this is the only satellite in the solar system that has its own atmosphere. It is 98.6% nitrogen. For comparison: on Earth it is 78%. He doesn't smell like anything. But instead of oxygen on Titan - hydrocarbonThe 3. 4 μm absorption in Titan’s stratosphere: Contribution of ethane, propane, butane and complex hydrogenated organics / NASA smog, in particular - methylacetylene (propyne, rocket fuel) and cyanoacetylene. So it smells like gasoline, like a big gas station.

Uranus and Neptune

Uranus and Neptune are chemically similarDetection of hydrogen sulfide above the clouds in Uranus's atmosphere / Nature Astronomy to Jupiter and Saturn. But they are colder than the giants closer to the Sun.

These planets are made up of hydrogen, helium and, to a lesser extent, methane. Ammonia is hidden in deeper layers here.Stinky mushball hailstones on Uranus may explain an atmospheric anomaly there (and on Neptune, too) / Spaceso the smell of urine is not as strong.

But the content of hydrogen sulfide in the atmospheres of icy gas planets is somewhat higher than that of those closer to star, so it smells more strongly of rotten eggs and intestinal gases.

On Neptune, a whole whirlwind is raging at allNeptune's Mysterious Storm is Dying, Possibly Smells Like Rotten Eggs / Popular Mechanics from hydrogen sulfide - it is called the Great Dark Spot. You can try to set it on fire by striking a match, but there will be no fire: there is no oxygen.

67P/Churyumova — Gerasimenko

The Philae lander of the European Space Agency landed on a comet for the first time in history in November 2014 and analyzed its chemical composition.What does a comet smell like? / BBC Science Focus Magazine. It turned out that basically the thin atmosphere of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko consists of water vapor and carbon dioxide, which do not smell at all.

But there are still the same flavors of ammonia (urine), sulfur dioxide (burning matches), hydrogen cyanide (bitter almonds, marzipan) and hydrogen sulfide (rotten eggs).

Sagittarius B2

This distant gas and dust cloudDetection of amino acetonitrile in Sgr B2(N) / Astronomy & Astrophysics, located at a distance of 26 thousand light years from us. It consists of hydrogen, as well as glycolaldehyde (sweet smell), ethyl alcohol, formaldehyde (disgusting smell of the hospital, drugs and new furniture), formic (pungent odor) and acetic acids.

But in this cloud in places you can find more refined aromas.A raspberry flavored galactic center with a hint of rum / Wiley Analytical Science - ethyl formate, smelling of raspberries, and n-propyl cyanide, fragrant of rum. True, it is better not to taste these substances, because they are poisonous.

Strictly speaking, unlike the atmospheres of planets, it is impossible to smell smells in outer space, because there is a vacuum there. Also, the particles in clouds like Sagittarius B2 are too sparse. And to smell such objects, you need really large nostrils with a mucous area of ​​​​several hundred square kilometers. Well, or you need to find a way to collect substances in a bottle.