![]() ![]() Living on Enceladus would be no easy ride, however. Life on Enceladus would be much easier to detect than any imprisoned creatures on Europa. But apparent brightness follows an inverse square law with distance, so the fact that Star A is twice as far away makes it 2 2 4 times dimmer. Luminosity is an intrinsic property, so two identical stars will always have the same luminosity. internal heating from tidal forces could keep the water liquid. Both stars have the same luminosity, but the apparent brightness of Star B is four times that of Star A. induced magnetic field could be created in the salty ocean gravitational measurements indicate a layer of water or slushy ice. If so, traces of any microbes that might be scratching out a living there would be blasted out too, where they could be picked up by a passing probe. Evidence: cracks in surface ice where new ice appears to well-up from below. Thus, an equilibrium ice shell thickness will develop, where tidal energy dissipation is balanced by heat loss to the surface. The geysers may be rooted in an interior ocean beneath the moon’s south pole. Tidal dissipation is thought to predominantly occur in the solid ice shell, and as the ice shell gets progressively thinner, the re- duced ice shell volume causes the energy dissipation rate on Triton to decrease. The rest escapes to form a foggy ring around Saturn. Although not alone enough to defrost an entire ocean, combine this radiogenic heating with tidal heating and Triton could very well have enough warmth to harbor a thin, ammonia-rich ocean. Some of this tumbles back down to Enceladus’s surface as snow, giving it a bright wintry coat that makes it the whitest object in the solar system. A set of geysers near its south pole blasts out jets of water vapour and ice crystals. Subsequent to its capture by Neptune, Triton could have experienced an episode of tidal heating sufficient to melt its icy mantle and possibly its rocky. ![]() Saturn’s snowball, Enceladus, is more violent. If this ocean stretches right down to the moon’s core, hydrothermal vents on the dark seabed could supply nutrients that could support micro-organisms, and perhaps even shrimp-sized predators. This probably generates enough heat to maintain a watery ocean beneath Europa’s frozen surface. Its rocky core, however, is warmed by tidal heating, a result of the changing gravitational pull from Jupiter that arises from the moon’s slightly elliptical orbit (see “Icy Inferno”). Jupiter’s moon Europa is covered by a cracked icy crust which resembles the Arctic floes of Earth. Alone of all the major Solar System satellites, Triton may have an obliquity near 100°. Tidal heating of Neptune’s moon Triton Department of Geophysics Supervisor of the bachelor thesis: prof. Tidal heating caused by energy dissipation during its capture and the slow circularization of its orbit. They may even contain cosy habitats for living creatures. Triton’s surface probably felt the first tremors of activity during that violent grab. THE seemingly bleak icy surfaces of Europa, Enceladus and Triton are in fact among the most active landscapes in the solar system. ![]()
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