Active moons in our Solar System and beyond -- Io, Europa, Enceladus, Triton, and exomoons
Caroline Haslebacher, Emeline Bolmont, Marco Cilibrasi, Jonathan Grone, Nico Haslebacher + 17 more
TLDR
This review explores active moons like Io, Europa, Enceladus, and Triton, focusing on their plumes and potential for detecting biosignatures.
Key contributions
- Reviews outgassing signatures of Io, Europa, Enceladus, Triton, and Io-like exomoons.
- Highlights Io's unique volcanism and the potential for detecting Io-like exomoon signatures.
- Identifies Europa and Enceladus as prime candidates for life due to their subsurface oceans.
- Discusses moon formation, evidence of plumes, and possibilities for investigating biosignatures.
Why it matters
This review consolidates knowledge on active moons, crucial for understanding planetary evolution and the potential for life. It emphasizes how plumes offer direct access to subsurface oceans, enabling biosignature investigation.
Original Abstract
The outgassing signatures of Io, Europa, Enceladus, Triton, and Io-like exomoons are the focus of this review chapter. The rocky volcanic world of Io is unique in our Solar System, with plumes reaching to hundreds of kilometres in altitude. Io-like exomoons could leave signatures strong enough to be detected with ground-based telescopes. The icy moons Europa and Enceladus, with their subsurface oceans, are currently the best candidates for life. Triton is different in many ways and raises unexplored questions. Our knowledge of these active moons is derived from space- and ground-based observations. To understand their origin, we discuss moon formation in general, before examining evidence and signatures of plumes on these moons. Given the accessibility of subsurface oceanic material through the occurrence of plumes, we expand on possibilities to investigate biosignatures.
📬 Weekly AI Paper Digest
Get the top 10 AI/ML arXiv papers from the week — summarized, scored, and delivered to your inbox every Monday.