The name comes from a mythical Phoenician noblewoman, Europa , who was courted by Zeus and became the queen of Crete, though the name did not become widely used until the mid-20th century. It has a smooth and bright surface, with a layer of water surrounding the mantle of the planet, thought to be 100 kilometers thick.
Which Galilean moon has a very smooth surface?
Europa is the smallest of the Galilean moons. It has an icy surface covering a large rocky core: The surface is very smooth and young.
What moon has the smoothest surface?
Jupiter’s large icy moon Europa has the smoothest surface of any solid body in the Solar System. The only prominent relief on its surface are ridges a few hundred metres in height. The tidal forces which cause Io’s intense volcanic activity also affect Europa.
Which of Jupiter’s moons is the smoothest?
Europa is a large, dense and icy moon of Jupiter with a very smooth surface – it is the smoothest object in our solar system. The surface of Europa is covered with long, crisscrossing trackway but it has few craters.
Which Galilean moon has an underground ocean?
Callisto : The Outermost Galilean Moon
It is one of the largest and most heavily cratered satellites in the solar system. The surface is very icy and dates back four billion years. Beneath the icy crust is possibly a salty ocean supported by a deeper rocky interior.
What are the 4 Galilean moons?
A comparison “portrait” of Jupiter’s four Galilean moons Io, Europa, Gany- mede, and Callisto , each with different characteristics.
Can you see the Galilean moons with binoculars?
Bottom line: You can see Jupiter’s four largest moons – Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, known as the Galilean satellites – with your own eyes with the help of binoculars or a small telescope.
What is the most habitable moon?
The strongest candidates for natural satellite habitability are currently icy satellites such as those of Jupiter and Saturn—Europa and Enceladus respectively, although if life exists in either place, it would probably be confined to subsurface habitats.
What is the smoothest object on earth?
Smoothest Surface Ever Created: May Lead To World’s First Atomic Microscope. Summary: Physicists have created the “quantum stabilized atom mirror ,” the smoothest surface ever, according to an article in the journal Advanced Materials.
What is Moon surface?
The moon’s surface is covered with dead volcanoes, impact craters, and lava flows , some visible to the unaided stargazer. ... They are oceans of a sort, but rather than water, such bodies are made up of pools of hardened lava.
What keeps Jupiter’s moons in orbit?
With a total of 79 known moons — including four large moons known as the Galilean satellites — Jupiter almost qualifies as a solar system unto itself. ... Its size plays a role in the number of moons orbiting Jupiter because there is a large area of gravitational stability around it to support many moons.
What are the 4 major moons of Jupiter?
ESA Science & Technology – Jupiter’s largest moons
From top to bottom, the moons are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto . Europa is almost the same size as Earth’s moon, while Ganymede, the largest moon in the Solar System, is larger than planet Mercury.
Are all four moons ever on the same side of Jupiter?
The moons all keep the same face towards Jupiter as they orbit , meaning that each moon turns once on its axis for every orbit around Jupiter.
Can humans live on Europa?
Europa’s surface is blasted by radiation from Jupiter. That’s a bad thing for life on the surface – it couldn’t survive . But the radiation may create fuel for life in an ocean below the surface. The radiation splits apart water molecules (H2O, made of oxygen and hydrogen) in Europa’s extremely tenuous atmosphere.
Can you breathe on Titan?
It is cold on Titan (surface temperature of about -290 degrees F). And people would need to wear respirators to breathe oxygen, since the atmosphere is mostly nitrogen. ... Because it’s so cold on Titan, all the water is frozen — the lakes and seas are composed of liquid methane and ethane.
Is Europa an ocean moon?
It is estimated that Europa has an outer layer of water around 100 km (62 mi) thick; a part frozen as its crust, and a part as a liquid ocean underneath the ice. ... This layer is likely to be a salty liquid-water ocean.
