“Hidden Oceans Discovered on Uranus’ Moons: Could They Support Life?”

SPACE — Hidden oceans lurk beneath the icy crusts of the four moons orbiting the planet Uranus. Scientists recently re-analyzed data from the Voyager spacecraft that flew past Uranus in the 1980s. They found that Uranus’s four largest moons; Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon are warm enough to contain liquid oceans.

According to new research published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, on Titania and Oberon, the oceans may even be warm enough to support life. “When it comes to small bodies, dwarf planets and moons, planetary scientists have previously found evidence of oceans in some unexpected places, including the dwarf planets Ceres and Pluto, and Saturn’s moon Mimas. So there are mechanisms we don’t fully understand,” said the authors. principal of research Julie Castillo-Rogez, scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

This new research integrates Voyager 2 data from the 1980s with information about other icy moons such as Charon on Pluto and Enceladus on Saturn. Data is taken from NASA’s latest missions such as Galileo, Cassini, Dawn, and New Horizons.

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Uranus has 27 moons, but researchers focused on the five largest, namely Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon and Miranda. Of the five, Ariel is the smallest with a width of 1,160 kilometers. While Titania is the largest with a width of 1,580 km. For comparison, our moon is about 3,500 km wide.

Previously, scientists thought only Tatiana might generate internal heat through radioactive decay, the process by which unstable atoms lose energy through radiation. Because, they believe the other moon is too small. However, porosity modeling of the other moons suggests all but Miranda are isolated enough to retain the internal heat created by radioactive decay.

The new researchers also discovered a potential ocean beneath these months’ icy crust, rich in chloride, ammonia, and salt, both of which would lower the freezing point of water. The combination of a low freezing point and ample internal heat could mean that Ariel, Umbrial, Titania, and Oberon all have oceans tens of miles deep within their interiors.

In 2020, scientists detected some recent evidence of geological activity at Ariel, indicating potential deep-sea movement. Miranda also features relatively fresh-looking surfaces, but modeling shows; if the moon did have liquid oceans at some point, it’s likely frozen by now.

To find out if these hidden oceans really exist, scientists have to get creative. Spectrometers that can detect the wavelengths of light reflected by ammonia and chloride can help prove the presence of chemicals under the moon’s crust. Scientists can also use instruments that can detect electric currents carried by liquid water to probe the subsurface of these moons. New modeling of how these moons formed could also help researchers plan future observations.

“We need to develop new models for different assumptions about the origin of the moon to guide planning for future observations,” said Castillo-Rogez. Source: LiveScience