Heaven scent: the perfume that smells like a comet

AS an aroma it is out of this world – British scientists have created a perfume akin to the smell of a comet.

The odour emitted from the surface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko that was sampled by the Philae lander during the Rosetta unmanned space mission is to be distributed in London.

Despite its glamorous cosmic provenance, hopeful lovers may be wise to think twice before dabbing on a touch of 67P ahead of a big date after it was also likened to cat urine.

“I almost feel the smell as a physical presence inside my skull,” said

writer Jacob Aron as he sampled the cologne.

“The full heft of 67P’s bouquet hits me in the face. Surprisingly it’s not actually as foul as my first impression led me to believe – somehow a few floral notes are now coming through,” he told Sky News.

The scent was commissioned by Dr Colin Snodgrass of the Open University and concocted by scent technology specialists at The Aroma Company of Wallingford, Oxon. Its arresting smell is inspired by the presence of hydrogen sulphide, ammonia and hydrogen cyanide on the 2.5 mile-wide comet, named after the two Soviet astronomers who discovered it in 1969.

The compounds were picked up in readings from Philae which made contact with the comet in November 2014, having left Earth more than 10 years earlier, and used to create synthetic scents back home.

The European Space Agency lander vehicle lost power on the 84,000 mph comet as it could not charge its solar batteries because it landed in shade but still completed some experiments and sent the results to Earth.

Samples of the scent will be handed out at the Royal Society summer exhibition which starts on Monday July 4.