![]() Thus, tidal flexing kneads Europa's interior and gives it a source of heat, possibly allowing its ocean to stay liquid while driving subsurface geological processes. The orbital eccentricity of Europa is also continuously pumped by its orbital resonance with Io. As Europa moves away from Jupiter, the gravitational force decreases, causing Europa to relax back into a more spherical shape and creating tides in its ocean. As it nears to Jupiter, Jupiter's gravitational attraction increases, causing Europa to elongate towards and away from it. This slight eccentricity of Europa's orbit, maintained by the gravitational disturbances from the other Galileans, causes Europa's position to oscillate slightly. Outside it, Ganymede maintains a 4:1 resonance with Io, orbiting once around Jupiter for every two rotations of Europa. Europa also maintains a 2:1 orbital resonance with Io, orbiting once around Jupiter for every two orbits of the innermost Galilean. Credit: NASAĮuropa takes 3.55 Earth days to complete a single orbit around Jupiter, and is ever so-slightly inclined towards Jupiter's equator (0.470°), and to the ecliptic (1.791°). This theory supports the notion that Europa may have a liquid ocean separating the crust from the core.Īrtist’s impression of a hypothetical ocean cryobot (a robot capable of penetrating water ice) in Europa. However, other research suggests that the tidal locking may not be full, as a non-synchronous rotation may be present.īasically, this means that Europa could spin faster than it orbits Jupiter (or did so in the past) due to an a asymmetry in its internal mass distribution where the rocky interior spins slower than its icy crust. Like its fellow Galilean satellites, Europa is tidally locked to Jupiter, with one hemisphere of Europa constantly facing towards the gas giant. when it is closest), and 676,938 km at Apoapsis (farthest). It's orbit is nearly circular, with a eccentricity of 0.09, and lies at an average distance of 670 900 km from Jupiter – 664,862 km at Periapsis (i.e. It is also slightly smaller than Earth's moon, which makes it the sixth-largest moon and fifteenth largest object in the solar system. ![]() With a mean radius of about 1560 km and a mass of 4.7998 ×10 22 kg, Europa is 0.245 the size of Earth and 0.008 times as massive. Europa has been recognized as being the sixth satellite in terms of distance from Jupiter. With the Voyager probes, three more inner satellites were discovered around Jupiter in 1979. The discovery of Amalthea in 1892, who's orbit lies closer to Jupiter than the Galileans, pushed Europa to the third position. However, by the mid-20th century, the names suggested by Marius were revived and entered common usage. These names were not initially popular and Galileo refused to use them, opting instead for the naming scheme of Jupiter I – IV – with Europa being Jupiter II since it was believed to be the second closest to Jupiter. The naming scheme was suggested by Simon Marius – a German astronomer who is thought to have discovered the four satellites independently – who in turn attributed the proposal to Johannes Kepler. Europa was a Phoenician noblewoman and the daughter of the king of Tyre, who later became a lover to Zeus and the queen of Crete. Like all the Galilean satellites, Europa was named after a lover of Zeus, the Greek equivalent to Jupiter. At the time, he mistook these four luminous objects for "fixed stars", but ongoing observation showed that they were orbiting Jupiter in a way that could only be explained by the existence of satellites. In addition to having an icy surface and a possible warm-water interior, this moon is considered to be one of the most-likely candidates for possessing life outside of Earth.Įuropa, along with Io, Ganymede and Callisto, were discovered by Galileo Galilei in January of 1610, using a telescope of his own design. But arguably, the most fascinating of the Galilean moons is Europa: the sixth closest moon to Jupiter, the smallest of the four, and the sixth largest moon in the solar system.
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