While Io, the most volcanically active moon in the solar system, appears completely dry and devoid of water ice, its neighbor Europa is thought to harbor a vast global ocean […]
Callisto
Posted inCallisto, Europa, Ganymede, Icy Worlds, Io, Jupiter, Status Report
Callisto’s Nonresonant Orbit As An Outcome Of Circum-Jovian Disk Substructure
The Galilean moons of Io, Europa, and Ganymede exhibit a 4:2:1 commensurability in their mean motions, a configuration known as the Laplace resonance.
Posted inCallisto, Europa, Ganymede, Icy Worlds, Io, Jupiter, Status Report
Not Just Gas: How Solid-Driven Torques Shaped the Migration of the Galilean Moons
The primary aim of this study is to investigate the orbital migration of the Galilean moons by incorporating self-consistent solid dynamics in circumjovian disk models. We perform two-fluid simulations using […]
Posted inAriel, Astrogeology, Callisto, Ceres, Charon, Dione, Enceladus, Europa, Ganymede, Iapetus, Ice Giant, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Mimas, Miranda, Missions & Hardware, Moon, Oberon, Phoebe, Pluto, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Rhea, Status Report, Tethys, Titan, Titania, Triton, Umbriel, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Icy Worlds: Moons And Dwarf Planets
In the outer solar system beyond Jupiter, water ice is a dominant component of planetary bodies, and most solid objects in this region are classified as icy bodies.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Callisto, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Ganymede, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release
Webb Studies A Carbon-rich Moon-Forming Disk Around A Massive Planet
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has provided the first direct measurements of the chemical and physical properties of a potential moon-forming disk encircling a large exoplanet. The carbon-rich disk surrounding […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Callisto, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Spectroscopic Mapping of Callisto with HST/STIS and Implications for its Surface Composition
We present global, spatially resolved ultraviolet-visible spectra of Callisto obtained with HST/STIS and explore possible compositions of Callisto’s surface material.
Posted inAstrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Callisto, Ganymede, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Press Release
Conditions For Accretion Favoring An Unmelted Callisto And A Differentiated Ganymede
Analysis of Callisto’s moments of inertia, derived from Galileo’s gravity data, suggests that its structure is not fully differentiated.
Posted inAnalog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Callisto, Cryobiology, Enceladus, Europa, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Jupiter, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Nomenclature, Systematics, Natural History, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Ice Planet Exploration: A Dataset Of Antarctic Ecosystems In Ice-free Lands
Astrobiology.com Editor’s note: Recently the Fram2 mission took four astronaut explorers on an orbital path that covered both of our planet’s polar regions. This was the fist human mission to […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Callisto, Icy Worlds, Jupiter, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Callisto Is Very Likely an Ocean World
More pocked with craters than any other object in our solar system, Jupiter’s outermost and second-biggest Galilean moon, Callisto, appears geologically unremarkable. In the 1990s, however, NASA’s Galileo spacecraft captured […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Callisto, Cryobiology, Europa, Ganymede, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
LunaIcy: Exploring Europa’s Icy Surface Microstructure through Multiphysics Simulations
A multiphysics simulation model incorporating a sintering model coupled with the MultIHeaTS thermal solver was developed to study the evolution of icy moons’ microstructure.