Life on Jovian Moons

(Chapter 9)
 Moons of the Outer Solar System
• Though the Jovian planets are likely not habitable, their
moons may be.

• There has been considerable interest in the Galilean

satellites of Jupiter, as well as Titan, Saturn’s largest
moon, and Triton, Neptune’s largest moon.

Possible sites for

habitability

9.2
 Jovian Moons

• These are satellites that orbit the 4 Jovian planets:

Jupiter (67+), Saturn (82+), Uranus (27+) and Neptune
(14).

• They vary is size from the largest, Ganymede (Jupiter

and larger than Mercury!) and Titan (Saturn) at ~5,000
km down to literally a few kilometres in diameter.

• Their properties are similarly varied.

9.3
The 4 Galilean
satellites (Io, Europa,
Ganymede and Calisto)
orbit Jupiter (left and
below);
Titan and Enceladus
orbit Saturn;
Triton orbits Neptune.

9.4
 The Jovian satellites

• As the name suggests, the 4 Galilean satellites of

Jupiter, comparable to, or just larger than our own Moon,
were first observed and studied telescopically by Galileo
in 1610.

• Titan, a satellite of Saturn, was discovered in 1655 by

Christiaan Huygens.

• Triton was discovered in 1846 by Lassell.

9.5
 The Jovian satellites
• Moderate and large Jovian satellites share similar
properties (and are more or less spherical). They orbit in
the same direction as their parent planet rotates and lie
almost always in the planet’s equatorial plane.

• They likely formed from

gas disks that
surrounded the parent
planet, accreting and
growing in much the
same way as planets in
the Solar System
formed.
9.6
 The Jovian satellites
• The smaller, more numerous satellites, are often
irregularly shaped (too low in mass for gravity to force a
spherical shape).
• Some likely formed in the “mini disks” that surrounded
the parent planet but others were likely captured or
perhaps even are remnants of fragmented larger
satellites.

• Many of these small satellites orbit

“retrograde” (opposite direction)
with respect to their parent
planet’s rotation (example at right).

9.7
 The Jovian satellites
• The composition of ice and rock is largely consistent for
all Jovian satellites. Formation of objects in the outer
Solar System is expected to yield higher concentrations
of water and thus a lower density compared to the
terrestrial worlds of the inner Solar System.
• Some variation does exist, notably the increasing density
of the Galilean satellites as you get closer to Jupiter
itself.

9.8
 The Jovian satellites

• Higher concentrations of water ice in the vicinity of

Jupiter are reflected in the compositions of the Galilean
satellites.

• At colder temperatures further out in the Solar System,

increasing amounts of other ices (e.g. methane ice) are
found in the satellites around Saturn, Uranus and
Neptune.

9.9
 Synchronous rotation and tidal forces

• Tides contribute to two important phenomena of interest.

• Why are there high and low tides on Earth?

• Tides are a “differential gravitational force.”

• Tides on Earth result mostly from the Moon’s gravity,

though the Sun does play some role.
• The force of gravity decreases with distance. The
gravitational force from the Moon on the “near side” of
our planet is stronger than on the “far side”…

9.10
• As a result of these gravitational force “differences”,
the liquid ocean gets pulled towards the Moon away
from the “near Earth’s” surface (relative to Earth’s
centre) and at the same time, a similar bulge occurs
on the “far side of Earth” where the Earth’s surface
is pulled away from the ocean towards the Moon. 9.11
 Synchronous rotation and tidal forces
• The tidal bulges slow down Earth's rotation rate because
of friction between the oceans and the sea floor by a
about 1 second every 50,000 years. This is called “tidal
friction.”

• In addition, the Moon gets pulled along in its orbit a little

faster causing it to move further away from Earth with
time.
9.12
 Synchronous rotation and tidal forces

• The sum total of these tidal interactions is to force the

Moon’s rotation rate to match its orbital period, called
synchronous rotation.
• In practice, this means that Earth always sees the same
part of the Moon’s surface.

• The Moon “raises” tides on Earth just as Earth generates

tides on the Moon.
• Far in the future, the Moon’s gravity will force Earth to
keep its same face towards the Moon; i.e., only one
hemisphere will see the Moon!)
9.13
 Synchronous rotation

On the left, Earth would see every part of the person in

“orbit”; on the right, Earth only sees the person’s front side
9.14
 Tidal forces and the Jovian satellites

• These tidal interactions between small and large bodies

in close proximity are evident throughout the Solar
System.
• Almost all Jovian satellites are “synchronously locked” as
a result of tidal interactions with the parent planet.
• Given enough time, synchronous rotation is inevitable!

• But tidal interactions also lead to internal heating of

many satellites in the Solar System.

9.15
 Hot stuff?

• Despite the relatively small size of the Galilean satellites

(and thus unlikely left over internal heat), there is
significant internal heat present in at least some of these
satellites, particularly Io.

• In fact, Io is the most volcanically active object in the

entire Solar System! This amazing world of volcanic
eruptions and lava flows was imaged in detail in 1979 by
Voyager 1.

9.16
9.17
 Io
• The volcanic activity on Io arises from 2 factors:
o Tidal heating from massive Jupiter is very strong on
Io, effectively flexing its interior and generating a lot of
internal friction (and thus heat).
o Io’s orbit is elliptical not circular meaning this flexing
occurs in differing directions as Io orbits Jupiter
impacting the satellite’s interior.

• Gravitational forces from

Europa, Ganymede and
Calisto oppose Jupiter’s
gravity leading to 100 m
tides on Io’s surface.
9.18
9.19
 Europa

• While the environment on (and in) Io makes it too hot to

be considered habitable (no liquid water), this is probably
not the situation for Europa (and the other Galilean
satellites).

• Tidal heating in Europa

has likely led to a
significant sub-surface
ocean; melted ice arising
from tidal heating effects.

9.20
 Europa
• Surface temperature of -150 C
• Spectroscopic measurements from Earth have
suggested an icy surface for Europa.
• Space probes confirmed this and revealed surface
cracks and little surface relief (mountains) suggesting
recent resurfacing of the satellite probably because of
soft ice or periodic melting (occurring because of interior
heating): a young surface geologically speaking.

9.21
 Europa
• Metallic core overlaid by rock and perhaps a 100-200 km
thick layer of ice and water.
• Given that ice, slush and liquid water all have essentially the
same density, it is hard to determine the “exact” thickness of
any liquid water.
• Magnetic field variations from Europa (induced by Jupiter’s
strong magnetic field) suggest liquid (salt) water, not ice
beneath the surface.

9.22
 Life on Europa?
• The building blocks for life are present inside Europa and
liquid water seems likely. Is there energy for life?
• On Earth, life exists on the ocean floor (using energy
from “black smokers” / volcanoes), so it is at least
plausible that a similar scenario has played out inside
Europa. We simply cannot tell (yet).
• Just because there is tidal heating in the interior does
not mean there is an ample source of energy to sustain
life in Europa. Specific chemical reactions are also
needed.
• It is also possible that high energy particle impacts on
the Europan ice surface (arising from Jupiter’s intense
magnetic field) could assist in generating chemicals
(molecules) to help sustain life. 9.23
 Lake Vostok (Earth)
• Earth has Europan
analogues.
• Lake Vostok is the largest
of the sub-glacial lakes
under 3.8 km of ice in
Antarctica. It has been
“sealed” for 15 million yr.
• Russian scientists bored a
clean hole to Vostok in
2015, but a number of
problems emerged,
including the contamination
of the bore hole (lake?) due
to kerosene. 9.24
 Ganymede

• Europa is by far the most habitable “world” of the

Galilean satellites (or indeed for any of Jupiter’s
satellites).
• Ganymede, the largest satellite in the Solar System, has
its own intrinsic magnetic field (suggesting some level of
liquid interior and a dynamo effect) as well as a transient
magnetic field presumably arising from a sub-surface
ocean.

• Ganymede’s surface has older, darker, crater-filled

regions and lighter, smoother and younger regions.

9.25
 Ganymede
• There is a suggestion that some areas of the satellite have
been “flooded” due to eruptions of water-ice from beneath
the surface.

• The level of tidal

heating is much less
on this satellite (further
from Jupiter).
• Habitable: maybe but
less likely than for
Europa.

9.26
Callisto
• A very ancient, crater filled
surface is clearly visible on
Callisto.
• Tidal heating is weak at best
and space probe
measurements suggest an icy-
rock mixture beneath the
surface.
• Surprisingly, a magnetic field
has been detected (weak)
suggesting a liquid layer.
• Not a likely place for life.
9.27
 Saturn & Company

• The further from the Sun, the less likely there will be
conditions for habitability.
• Saturn is the second largest planet in the Solar System,
one planet further from the Sun than Jupiter.
• Characterized by a magnificent ring system (billions of
small particles in the equatorial plane of the planet), it
has 80+ orbiting satellites.

9.28
 Saturn & Company

• The Cassini-Huygens Mission was launched in

1997 which took 7 years to reach Saturn and its
moons.
• Artist conceptions of the Cassini spacecraft (L)
and Huygens lander on Titan (R).

9.29
 Saturn & Company
• By far the most interesting of Saturn’s moons is Titan.

• Voyager 2 image of Titan (left) showing smog and

Cassini’s IR camera (centre) which penetrates some of
the smog. The Huygens probe image of the surface of
Titan is shown (right).

9.30
 Titan

• Only moon in solar system with substantial atmosphere

due to its substantial gravity and cold temperatures.
• Largely Nitrogen at -180 C, but no Oxygen.

• Prospects for life were high enough that the Huygens

probe was included with the Cassini mission to Saturn.
• Huygens soft landed on Titan in 2005.

9.31
 Titan

• Image of N polar region of Titan

(top) from Cassini’s radar showing
possible lakes of liquid ethane and
methane.
• Surface of Titan from Huygens
(left) showing water ice and dry
streambed (liquid methane river?).
9.32
 Titan

• Atmosphere originated from outgassing.

• Landscape sculpted by liquid ethane and methane, and
water + ammonia ice.

• Strong evidence for liquid hydrocarbons on Titan.

• So cold, chemical reactions are much slower.
• Could be volcanic heating (hot springs) or chemical
reactions (energy sources).

• UV light from Sun could lead to organic compounds;

what about the handedness of amino acids?
9.33
 Titan

• As pictured below, amino acids, key components of life

on Earth, come in both “left” and “right” handed forms.
The L and R amino acids are mirror images of one
another.
• On Earth, amino acids in all life are exclusively left
handed; what about on Titan? (In meteorites, there is a
50/50 split.)

9.34
 Enceladus

• Saturn’s Enceladus may also have

subsurface water and a heat source as
the fountains on its limb show (right)
• Another option is a “cold geyser” model
(below).

9.35
 Uranus and Neptune
• Further from the Sun where solar radiation is very weak,
are the last 2 Jovian planets, Uranus and Neptune.
• Both these planets are small disks as seen from Earth and
were both discovered telescopically (1781 and 1846
respectively).
• They have been visited only once by spacecraft: Voyager
2 (1986 and 1989 respectively)

9.36
 Triton

• After the Galilean satellites and Titan, the next largest

satellite is Neptune’s Triton which has a diverse terrain.
• It is in a retrograde orbit suggesting it was a captured
satellite of Neptune rather than an object that “formed or
accreted” around Neptune in the early days of the Solar
System formation.

9.37
 Triton
• The diverse surface of Triton is quite recent, probably
less than 100 million years old (as determined by crater
counts). Surface temperature is about -230 C.
• Thus, some type of internal heating has taken place.
Perhaps from tidal heating during capture, perhaps from
radioactive isotopes. The actual source and degree of
heating is unclear.
• The speculation is that there is enough internal heat not
only to melt and resurface the satellite (and generate
some ice-volcanism) but to maintain a sub-surface liquid
ocean.
• This would be very cold (and under pressure), likely
consisting of water, ammonia, methane and other ices.

• Habitable? Just maybe …

9.38
 Habitability summary

• Surprisingly perhaps at first glance, the numerous Jovian

satellites orbiting the 4 Jovian planets in our Solar
System have revealed at least 6 possibly habitable
worlds: Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Titan, Enceladus,
and Triton.
• This suggests that the number of habitable worlds in our
Galaxy may be truly enormous… if our Solar System is
typical.

9.39