Tag Archive for 'Tidal heating'

The internal structure of Io as revealed by the present study. Image credit: Sofia Shen / NASA / JPL / Caltech.

Jupiter’s Moon Io Does Not Have Subsurface Magma Ocean, Study Suggests

Dec 13, 2024 by News Staff

Volcanic activity on Io — the innermost Galilean moon of Jupiter and the most volcanically active body in the Solar System — is unlikely to...

The surface of Europa looms large in this newly-reprocessed color view; image scale is 1.6 km per pixel; north on Europa is at right. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SETI Institute.

Planetary Researchers Examine Tidal Effects on Interiors of Planets and Their Moons

Nov 7, 2024 by News Staff

A team of scientists from the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona, TU Delft, and Caltech has developed a new method to compute...

This image from NASA’s Galileo spacecraft shows a volcanic explosion on Io. Image credit: NASA / JPL / University of Arizon.

Planetary Scientists Create Global Map of Volcanic Hotspots on Io

Sep 20, 2024 by News Staff

Io is the most volcanically active body in the Solar System. Io’s volcanoes are powered by both the extreme tides from Jupiter and the gravitational...

This artist’s impression shows Proxima b orbiting Proxima Centauri, which at only 4.23 light-years is the closest star to our Solar System. The double star Alpha Centauri AB also appears in the image between the exoplanet and Proxima itself. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Proxima b May Harbor Explosive Cryovolcanoes and Habitable Subsurface Ocean

Dec 15, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers from NASA and the University of Washington have estimated total internal heating rates and depths to possible subsurface oceans for 17 planets...

An artist’s impression of the Gliese 414 system. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Study: One-Third of Red Dwarf Exoplanets Could Be in Habitable Zone

May 29, 2023 by News Staff

A team of U.S. astronomers has discovered that two-thirds of the planets around M dwarfs (red dwarf stars) could be roasted by extreme tidal forces, sterilizing...

An artist’s impression of the exo-Earth LP 791-18d. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Chris Smith, KRBwyle.

Volcano-Covered Terrestrial Exoplanet Found Orbiting Nearby Star

May 19, 2023 by Natali Anderson

The newly-discovered planet has a radius of 1.03 Earth radii and a temperature between 27 and 127 degrees Celsius (81-261 degrees Fahrenheit), with the...

Mimas’ surface, like the surfaces of most of the other major Saturnian moons without atmospheres, is not pure ice but contains some dark impurities; the relatively dark markings appear along the lower portion of the walls of the 130-km-wide Herschel Crater (the peak in the middle of the crater is about as tall as Mount Everest; the impact that made it likely almost destroyed the moon) and some of the smaller craters; scientists interpret this darkening as evidence for the gradual concentration of impurities from evaporating icy materials in areas where the dark impurities slide slowly down the crater wall. Image credit: NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute.

Saturn’s Moon Mimas Hosts Global Ocean, New Study Suggests

Jan 20, 2022 by News Staff

Mimas, the smallest and innermost of Saturn’s eight main moons, may be warm enough to harbor a global, liquid water ocean beneath a 24-31-km (15-19-mile)...

Hay et al for the first time investigate moon-moon tides in Jupiter’s Galilean moons and show that they can cause significant heating through the excitation of high-frequency resonant tidal waves in their subsurface oceans. Image credit: Galileo Project / Voyager Project / NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Galilean Moons of Jupiter Could Be Warming Each Other

Sep 11, 2020 by News Staff

In a process called tidal heating, gravitational push and pull from Jupiter’s Galilean moons — Europa, Ganymede, Io and Callisto — and the...

Artist’s concept of ocean on Jupiter’s moon Europa. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Planetary Researchers Explore Habitability of Europa’s Ocean

Jun 25, 2020 by News Staff

A duo of U.S. planetary scientists has calculated that water in the subsurface ocean of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa could have been formed by breakdown...

An artist’s impression of a water-world exoplanet. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Ocean Worlds May Be Common in Our Milky Way Galaxy

Jun 19, 2020 by News Staff

A team of U.S. astronomers has calculated internal heating rates for 53 terrestrial exoplanets and found that all of them are likely to have volcanic activity...

Enceladus’ tiger stripes are known to be spewing ice from the moon’s icy interior into space, creating a cloud of fine ice particles over the moon’s south pole and creating Saturn’s mysterious E-ring. Evidence for this has come from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft that orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017. Pictured here, a high resolution image of Enceladus is shown from a close flyby. Tiger stripes are visible in false-color blue. Image credit: NASA / ESA / JPL / SSI / Cassini Imaging Team.

Enceladus’ Tiger Stripes Finally Explained

Dec 10, 2019 by News Staff

Saturn’s 300-mile- (500 km) diameter moon Enceladus is thought to have an outer ice shell covering a liquid water ocean. Slashed across the moon’s...

The artist's concept depicts a super-Earth-size planet. Image credit: NASA Ames / JPL-Caltech.

Terrestrial Exoplanets around Low-Mass Stars Probably Have Protective Magnetospheres

Sep 29, 2015 by News Staff

Earth-mass exoplanets orbiting close to low-mass parent stars likely have magnetic fields that protect them from stellar radiation, says a duo of astronomers...

This image from NASA’s Galileo spacecraft shows Io. There are rugged mountains several miles high, layered materials forming plateaus, and many irregular depressions called volcanic calderas. Several of the dark, flow-like features correspond to hot spots, and may be active lava flows. There are no landforms resembling impact craters, as the volcanism covers the surface with new deposits much more rapidly than the flux of comets and asteroids can create large impact craters. The picture is centered on the side of Io that always faces away from Jupiter; north is to the top. Image credit: NASA / JPL / University of Arizona.

Jupiter’s Moon Io May Have Subsurface Magma Ocean

Sep 14, 2015 by News Staff

Io is the Solar System’s most volcanically active planetary body. However, concentrations of volcanic activity are displaced from where they are expected...

Southern hemisphere of Miranda; projection is orthographic, centered on the south pole; visible from left to right are Elsinore, Inverness, and Arden coronae. Image credit: NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory / Ted Stryk.

Miranda: Tidal Heating Responsible for Current Appearance of Uranus’ Icy Moon

Sep 20, 2014 by News Staff

Brown University planetary scientists in a new study have found that tidal heating is the main reason responsible for the present appearance of Miranda...