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ISSPissTracker (lemmy.ml)
submitted 6 months ago by to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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This is science related I think

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[–] 9 points 6 months ago* (8 children)

How... How do they know what it smells like? 🤨

They sent a dude up there and they took their helmet off and before they died they managed to say "Ugh! It smells like piss!"

???

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  • [–] 4 points 5 months ago (3 children)

    This is probably satire, but in case anyone was wondering how they did figure out the atmosphere (could possibly maybe) smell like pee:

    The technique is called "spectroscopy" and, in a nutshell, different elements and compounds absorb light differently, creating an absorption spectrum. Spectrum, spectroscopy. NASA found that the atmosphere was composed of ammonia and water, the two main ingredients in our pee, with ammonia in particular creating the scent. I think it's very cool that, based on the slight differences in light, we can tell what's inside the atmosphere of a planet many (and I mean many) light years away! And one light year is very long indeed, so it's a really big distance for us small humans!

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago (1 child)

    To add, Venus, Earth's sister planet, would have a rotten egg smell due to hydrogen sulfide gas in the atmosphere! You would probably die from high pressures before you can take a whiff though.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago

    Additionally, a few of the articles I found add the possibility of rain on this exoplanet, which could be detected through how reflective such rain clouds would be! Pretty neat I think, but not so good if you happened to visit a planet that's literally raining wee.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago*

    How... How do they know what it smells like? 🤨

    tricky to kow but a couple ideas...

    Astronaut Chuck "Chuckles" McGee flew there, landed and while taking a shit outside wondered why everything smelled like piss and reported back

    or

    they know the chemical composition based on the JWST and we know the chemical composition of piss, so one thing leads to another and here we are

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