Planet where it rains glass shards also stinks of rotten eggs, study finds

A planet where glass rains from the sky and temperatures exceed 900 degrees celsius also smells of rotten eggs, scientists have discovered.

Researchers were studying planet HD 189733 b, a Jupiter-sized gas giant 64 light-years from Earth, when they found its atmosphere contained traces of hydrogen sulfide.

The compound is known for having a strong odour of rotten eggs. Its presence may provide clues about the part sulfur can play in gas giants beyond the solar system.

“Hydrogen sulfide is a major molecule that we didn’t know was there. We predicted it would be, and we know it’s in Jupiter, but we hadn’t really detected it outside the solar system,” said Guangwei Fu, an astrophysicist who led the Johns Hopkins University study.

He said the data, collected using the James Webb Space Telescope, gives us an insight into how planets form.

“Sulfur is a vital element for building more complex molecules, and—like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and phosphate—scientists need to study it more to fully understand how planets are made and what they’re made of,” he added.

HD 189733 b is the closest “hot Jupiter”-type planet scientists can observe passing in front of its star, making it key for studying planetary atmospheres.

The planet only takes two Earth days to complete an orbit around its star, and is around 13 times closer than Mercury is to its sun.

It is well-known for its wild weather, with scorching temperatures and 5,000 mph winds that blow shards of glass raining from the sky.