Table of Contents
What is the surface of Enceladus?
Enceladus is mostly covered by fresh, clean ice, making it one of the most reflective bodies of the Solar System. Consequently, its surface temperature at noon only reaches −198 °C (−324 °F), far colder than a light-absorbing body would be.
What is Ganymede made out of?
ice
Ganymede has three main layers: A metallic iron core at its center, a spherical shell of rock (mantle) surrounding the core, and a spherical shell of mostly ice surrounding the rock shell. The surface is the very top of the ice shell. Scientists have discovered irregular lumps beneath Ganymede’s icy surface.
Why does Europa have a liquid ocean?
It is far far out from the sun and yet it’s got this liquid water ocean, and the reason that Europa has liquid water is because it’s orbiting Jupiter and the tidal tug and pull causes Europa to flex up and down and all that tidal energy turns into mechanical energy, which turns into friction and heat that helps …
Could Europa have life?
The type of life that might inhabit Europa likely would not be powered by photosynthesis – but by chemical reactions. Europa’s surface is blasted by radiation from Jupiter. That’s a bad thing for life on the surface – it couldn’t survive. But the radiation may create fuel for life in an ocean below the surface.
What is Enceladus core made of?
Previous research suggested Enceladus’s core is made of fragmented rock. Choblet and his colleagues estimated that spaces packed with rock grains and water make up about 20 to 30 percent of the core.
What is the atmosphere of Enceladus made of?
water vapor
Enceladus has a significant atmosphere composed mostly of water vapor. It is believed to originate from gases escaping from within Enceladus.
What minerals are on Ganymede?
Ganymede is composed of approximately equal amounts of silicate rock and water. It is a fully differentiated body with an iron-rich, liquid core, and an internal ocean that may contain more water than all of Earth’s oceans combined.
How does Ganymede have liquid water?
Ganymede’s surface temperature can vary significantly over the course of a day. Around noon at the moon’s equator, it becomes warm enough for the icy surface to sublimate, or release small amounts of water molecules — which explains the differences seen in the ultraviolet images taken by Hubble.
Is Europa’s core liquid?
The reason Europa has liquid water is because tides — similar to the tidal interactions between Earth and its moon — cause Europa’s ice shell and interior to flex during the course of its orbit around Jupiter.
Can you breathe on Europa?
Europa has a thin oxygen atmosphere, but it is far too tenuous for humans to breathe. Europa’s magnetic field shields its surface from Jupiter’s deadly radiation.
How thick is Europa’s atmosphere?
Theory and observation indicate that Europa’s icy shell is around 15 to 25 kilometers (10 to 15 miles) thick, overlying an ocean approximately 60-150 kilometers (40 to 100 miles) deep. Support for this hypothesis comes from observations of pits, domes, and spots on Europa’s surface.
Does Enceladus have liquid water?
Cassini revealed the dramatic truth: Enceladus is an active moon that hides a global ocean of liquid salty water beneath its crust. What’s more, jets of icy particles from that ocean, laced with a brew of water and simple organic chemicals, gush out into space continuously from this fascinating ocean world.
What is the average surface temperature of Europa?
Subsurface ocean. Scientists’ consensus is that a layer of liquid water exists beneath Europa’s surface, and that heat from tidal flexing allows the subsurface ocean to remain liquid. Europa’s surface temperature averages about 110 K (−160 °C; −260 °F) at the equator and only 50 K (−220 °C; −370 °F) at the poles,…
Does Europa have an underground ocean?
The detection of sodium chloride on the surface of Europa lends support to the theory that Europa not only has an underground ocean, but that this ocean contains the building blocks of life, and perhaps its own ecosystem of living organisms.
How does Jupiter appear from the surface of Europa?
Like its fellow Galilean satellites, Europa is tidally locked to Jupiter, with one hemisphere of Europa constantly facing Jupiter. Because of this, there is a sub-Jovian point on Europa’s surface, from which Jupiter would appear to hang directly overhead. Europa’s prime meridian is a line passing through this point.
What is the compsition of Europa’s surface?
Europa’s surface is made of water ice and so it reflects 5.5 times the sunlight than our Moon does. Europa orbits Jupiter at about 417,000 miles (671,000 kilometers) from the planet, which itself orbits the Sun at a distance of roughly 500 million miles (780 million kilometers), or 5.2 astronomical units (AU).