They may be beautiful in the night sky, but apparently comets don't smell as good as they look.

The Rosetta comet orbiter has sent back reports of the Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet, which smells something like rotten eggs and embalming fluid, NBC News reported.

The strong scent comes from "extraordinarily rich" chemicals in a gas shell around the comet's nucleus.

"That surprised us because the comet is still more than 400 million kilometers from the sun," Kathrin Altwegg, ROSINA project director of the Center for Space and Habitability (CSH) of the University of Bern, said in a translated statement. "The comet comes closer to the sun, the more [its ice evaporates], and the stronger its [gas]."

The smell of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is a charming mixture of rotten eggs, horse urine, formaldehyde, bitter almonds, alcohol, vinegar and sweet ether, according to the Associated Press.

The University of Bern researchers analyzed chemicals in the comet's coma, which forms a cloudy circle around the nucleus.

"Its perfume may not be Chanel No. 5, but comets clearly have their own preferences," said Altwegg, as quoted by NBC.

European spacecraft Rosetta will drop a lander onto Churyumov-Gerasimenko's surface on Nov. 12.

The comet's rotten egg scent will only become stronger as it gets closer to the sun and releases more gas. 

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