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Related: About this forumComet smells like rotten eggs, horse urine, alcohol, bitter almonds, vinegar
Rotten eggs, horse urine, alcohol, and bitter almonds: this is the bouquet of odours you would smell if a comet in deep space could be brought back to Earth, European scientists say.
An instrument aboard the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft has detected some intriguing chemical signatures from Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P/C-G) since their rendezvous in deep space in August, the scientists said.
Molecules detected include ammonia, methane, hydrogen sulphide, hydrogen cyanide and formaldehyde.
"If you could smell the comet, you [would] probably wish that you hadn't," said the team wryly in a blog posted on the European Space Agency (ESA) website.
The device, called Rosina-DFMS, is a mass spectrometer.
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-24/comets-smell-like-rotten-eggs/5837806
OilemFirchen
(7,143 posts)That aptly describes one of the more popular IPVs tapped in the local brewpub.
libodem
(19,288 posts)Swear, I wrote mine without checking the comment first.
NRaleighLiberal
(60,014 posts)What an interesting mix of chemical substances! An interesting read for a Friday morning.
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)Nice casserole there!
Orsino
(37,428 posts)Somebody must have poured a Coors on it.
Warpy
(111,261 posts)A lot of them are urinals with tracks.
Bosonic
(3,746 posts)ESA_Rosetta_NAVCAM_141018_D.jpg
Odin2005
(53,521 posts)Which makes a lot of sense!