Thhese days there are perfumes to satisfy anyone’s sensibilities—gab a bottle of the a loved one’s scent, dab on eau de apocalypse or huff babies’ heads. Now, a new perfume appeals to the space lover, capturing the aromatic scents of a comet, reports New Scientist’s Jacob Aron.
Now, Philae is billions of miles from Earth and out of touch with ESA scientists. But that doesn’t mean they can’t reminisce about the comet upon which the lander hitched a ride—or make creative use of the science that was done on 67P. As Aron reports, a chemical analysis of the data from the comet was used to craft a perfume that will be handed out at a summer science exhibition of The Royal Society in July.
At first whiff, the idea of perfume made out of a celestial body is intriguing. A silvery chunk of stardust must smell delicious, right? Not so much. It turns out that the scent is pungent—Aron compares it to “rotten eggs, cat urine and bitter almonds.”
Eau de 67P may not smell that delicious, but what it lacks in appeal it makes up for in novelty. It’s not that often you get to smell like a celestial body.