The giant planet Jupiter has nearly 100 known moons, yet none have captured the interest and imagination of astronomers and space scientists quite like Europa, an ice-shrouded world that is […]
The Cassini spacecraft orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017, performing over a hundred flybys of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon.
Jupiter’s moon Europa is thought to harbour a saltwater ocean beneath a variously disrupted ice shell, and it is, thus, one of the highest priority astrobiology targets in the Solar […]
The outer planets of the Solar System are swarmed by ice-wrapped moons. Some of these, such as Saturn’s moon Enceladus, are known to have oceans of liquid water between the […]
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft captured dramatic plumes, both large and small, spray water ice out from many locations along the famed ‘tiger stripes’ near the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus.
The icy surface of Europa is continuously bombarded by ions and electrons from Jupiter’s magnetosphere.
Free-floating (rogue) planets are thought to be numerous in the Galaxy and may retain their moons after ejection from their natal systems. If those satellites acquire or preserve orbital eccentricity, […]
Saturn’s magnetosphere contains trapped plasma and energetic charged particles which constantly irradiate the surface of Enceladus.
Icy satellites host topography at many length scales, from rifts and craters on the small end to equatorial-pole shell thickness differences that are comparable to these bodies’ circumference.
Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter, features complex surface characteristics shaped by tidal forces and interactions with its subsurface ocean, making it a key target for astrobiology research.
