Goal: To understand the workings of the moons of Jupiter and how

this might apply to life in our universe

• Objectives:• 1) To explore the Volcanoes on Io• 2) To understand Building blocks for life.• 3) To explore the Oceans on Europa• 4) To learn about Anything interesting on

Ganymade or Callisto• 5) To examine How many moons Jupiter has

Io

• Before the Voyager probe went past Io in the 1980s Io was thought to be a dead boring world much like the moon.

• Luckily, they were wrong!

What is this?

Io is the most volcanic object in our solar system!

• Io has over 100 volcanoes, but is about the size of our moon. This would be like having 2000 volcanoes on the earth!

• Io is so volcanic that its surface is yellow from Sulfur!

• But why?

Tug of war!

• By itself, Io should be dead. It is tidally locked to Jupiter, so should not be heated tidally.

• However… There is a tug of war game.• Jupiter is on one side, and has quite a

strong pull. On the other side are the other 3 Galilean moons (Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto).

• Where is Io?

But tides there are

• The tide on the land of Io is 100 m high!

• Io is at about the distance from Jupiter that our moon is from us.

• Io orbits Jupiter once every 1.8 days.

• For the most part this tide is locked into place, but with the help from its friends…

Tidal heating

• Tidal heating occurs when the interior of a body is being moved by tidal forces.

• This causes friction which causes heating.

• This is the same as rubbing your hands or squeezing and un-squeezing a tennis ball.

Tidal forces on Io

• Io has a slightly elliptical orbit as a result of a 1-2-4 orbital resonance with Europa and Ganymede.

• This causes Io to change its distance from Jupiter slightly. This changes the amount of the tide.

• Also, this causes the part of Io pointed directly at Jupiter to shift by 0.5 degrees over its period (imagine a 100 m tide moving back and forth over a distance of 20 mile distance every 1.8 days).

The result:

• The mantle of Io is hotter than the earth’s mantle has been in 2 billion years!

• Also, the volcanoes on Io are mostly HUGE! • The largest is almost as large as Olympus Mons,

but is bigger in volume.• Needless to say, the surface of Io if very young!• So, Io gives us a great look into how the earth

must have been 2-3 billion years ago!

LIFE!

• What are the most basic building blocks of life (the things that NO life form can live without!)? Please brainstorm at least 6.

(Thebe,

Amalthea,

and Metis )

Galileo

Europa – is there life?

What does this look like?

• And notice, still very few if any craters.

Close Up!

• Under a few miles of ice, Europa probably has an ocean bigger than any ocean on Earth!

• Where there is liquid water is there life?

Ganymedelargest moon in the solar system

• What is Ganymede mostly made of?

• What are the white circles?

• How old is the surface of Ganymede?

Callisto

• Cancels out Jupiter’s magnetic field around itself.

• This is probably due to a very salty ocean under the surface.

How many more does Jupiter have?

• There are 63 known moons, but there are probably about 100 more.

• http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~sheppard/satellites/jupsatdata.html

Conclusion

• Near Jupiter, even the moons are big!• Io is the most volcanic object in the solar

system.• Europa has the biggest ocean, and may have

life.• Ganymede is the biggest moon in the solar

system.• Callisto, well we need to find something for poor

Callisto.• And Jupiter has more known moons than any

other planet (but look out Saturn is catching up quick)!