Astronomers Discover Jupiter-Like Planet That Smells Like Urine

The legendary James Webb Space Telescope has discovered a new gem: a planet, similar to Jupiter, located several light-years away. Astronomers are calling it Epsilon Indi Ab and say it is about 7.6 times the mass of Jupiter, but is actually similar in size. Its temperature is believed to be on the cooler side, ranging from -70 degrees Celcius to 20 degrees Celsius. The scientists also found that, though its atmosphere is rich in ammonia, giving it an unfortunate smell of urine, there are also clouds of water. The author of the study detailing this new planet credited the telescope with making breakthrough discoveries like this one. “JWST is finally allowing us to study solar-system analogue planets in detail. If we were aliens, several light years away, and looking back at the Sun, JWST is the first telescope that would allow us to study Jupiter in detail,” said Elisabeth Matthews of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy. James Mang of the University of Texas added that places that had seemed impossible to detect with a telescope are “now within reach, allowing us to probe the structure of these atmospheres, including the presence of clouds.”

Read it at The Independent

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