Callisto: An Ancient, Primitive World

We begin our discussion of the Galilean moons with the outermost one, Callisto, not because it is remarkable but because it is not. This makes it a convenient object with which other, more active, worlds can be compared. Its distance from Jupiter is about 2 million kilometers, and it orbits the planet in 17 days. Like our own Moon, Callisto rotates in the same period as it revolves, so it always keeps the same face toward Jupiter. Callisto’s day thus equals its month: 17 days. Its noontime surface temperature is only 130 K (about 140 °C below freezing), so that water ice is stable (it never evaporates) on its surface year round.

Callisto has a diameter of 4820 kilometers, almost the same as the planet Mercury ([link]). Yet its mass is only one-third as great, which means its density (the mass divided by the volume) must be only one-third as great as well. This tells us that Callisto has far less of the rocky and metallic materials found in the inner planets and must instead be an icy body through much of its interior. Callisto can show us how the geology of an icy object compares with those made primarily of rock.

Unlike the worlds we have studied so far, Callisto has not fully differentiated (separated into layers of different density materials). We can tell that it lacks a dense core from the details of its gravitational pull on the Galileo spacecraft. This surprised scientists, who expected that all the big icy moons would be differentiated. It should be easier for an icy body to differentiate than for a rocky one because the melting temperature of ice is so low. Only a little heating will soften the ice and get the process started, allowing the rock and metal to sink to the center while the slushy ice floats to the surface. Yet Callisto seems to have frozen solid before the process of differentiation was complete.

The surface of Callisto is covered with impact craters, like the lunar highlands. The survival of these craters tells us that an icy object can retain impact craters on its surface. Callisto is unique among the planet-sized objects of the solar system in the apparent absence of interior forces to drive geological change. You might say that this moon was stillborn, and it has remained geologically dead for more than 4 billion years ([link]).

Callisto.

In thinking about ice so far from the Sun, we must take care not to judge its behavior from the much warmer ice we know and love on Earth. At the temperatures of the outer solar system, ice on the surface is nearly as hard as rock, and it behaves similarly. Ice on Callisto does not deform or flow like ice in glaciers on Earth.

Ganymede, the Largest Moon

Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system, also shows a great deal of cratering ([link]). Recall from Other Worlds: An Introduction to the Solar System) that we can use crater counts on solid worlds to estimate the age of the surface. The more craters, the longer the surface has been exposed to battering from space, and the older it must therefore be. About one-quarter of Ganymede’s surface seems to be as old and heavily cratered as that of Callisto; the rest formed more recently, as we can tell by the sparse covering of impact craters as well as the relative freshness of those craters. If we judge from crater counts, this fresher terrain on Ganymede is somewhat younger than the lunar maria or the martian volcanic plains, perhaps 2 to 3 billion years old.

The differences between Ganymede and Callisto are more than skin deep. Ganymede is a differentiated world, like the terrestrial planets. Measurements of its gravity field tell us that the rock sank to form a core about the size of our Moon, with a mantle and crust of ice “floating” above it. In addition, the Galileo spacecraft discovered that Ganymede has a magnetic field, the sure signature of a partially molten interior. There is very likely liquid water trapped within the interior. Thus, Ganymede is not a dead world but rather a place of intermittent geological activity powered by an internal heat source. Some surface features could be as young as the surface of Venus (a few hundred million years).

The younger terrain was formed by tectonic and volcanic forces ([link]). In some places, the crust apparently cracked, flooding many of the craters with water from the interior. Extensive mountain ranges were formed from compression of the crust, forming long ridges with parallel valleys spaced a few kilometers apart. In some areas, older impact craters were split and pulled apart. There are even indications of large-scale crustal movements that are similar to the plate tectonics of Earth.

Ganymede.

Why is Ganymede so different from Callisto? Possibly the small difference in size and internal heating between the two led to this divergence in their evolution. But more likely the gravity of Jupiter is to blame for Ganymede’s continuing geological activity. Ganymede is close enough to Jupiter that tidal forces from the giant planet may have episodically heated its interior and triggered major convulsions on its crust.

A tidal force results from the unequal gravitational pull on two sides of a body. In a complex kind of modern dance, the large moons of Jupiter are caught in the varying gravity grip of both the giant planet and each other. This leads to gravitational flexing or kneading in their centers, which can heat them—an effect called tidal heating. (A fuller explanation is given in the section on Io.) We will see as we move inward to Europa and Io that the role of jovian tides becomes more important for moons close to the planet.

Europa, a Moon with an Ocean

Europa and Io, the inner two Galilean moons, are not icy worlds like most of the moons of the outer planets. With densities and sizes similar to our Moon, they appear to be predominantly rocky objects. How did they fail to acquire a majority share of the ice that must have been plentiful in the outer solar system at the time of their formation?

The most probable cause is Jupiter itself, which was hot enough to radiate a great deal of infrared energy during the first few million years after its formation. This infrared radiation would have heated the disk of material near the planet that would eventually coalesce into the closer moons. Thus, any ice near Jupiter was vaporized, leaving Europa and Io with compositions similar to planets in the inner solar system.

Despite its mainly rocky composition, Europa has an ice-covered surface, as astronomers have long known from examining spectra of sunlight reflected from it. In this it resembles Earth, which has a layer of water on its surface, but in Europa’s case the water is capped by a thick crust of ice. There are very few impact craters in this ice, indicating that the surface of Europa is in a continual state of geological self-renewal. Judging from crater counts, the surface must be no more than a few million years old, and perhaps substantially less. In terms of its ability to erase impact craters, Europa is more geologically active than Earth.

When we look at close-up photos of Europa, we see a strange, complicated surface ([link]). For the most part, the icy crust is extremely smooth, but it is crisscrossed with cracks and low ridges that often stretch for thousands of kilometers. Some of these long lines are single, but most are double or multiple, looking rather like the remnants of a colossal freeway system.

Evidence for an Ocean on Europa.

It is very difficult to make straight lines on a planetary surface. In discussing Mars, we explained that when Percival Lowell saw what appeared to him to be straight lines (the so-called martian “canals”), he attributed them to the engineering efforts of intelligent beings. We now know the lines on Mars were optical illusions, but the lines on Europa are real. These long cracks can form in the icy crust if it is floating without much friction on an ocean of liquid water ([link]).

Very High-Resolution Galileo Image of One Young Double Ridge on Europa.

The close-up Galileo images appear to confirm the existence of a global ocean. In many places, the surface of Europa looks just as we would expect for a thick layer of ice that was broken up into giant icebergs and ice floes and then refrozen in place. When the ice breaks, water or slush from below may be able to seep up through the cracks and make the ridges and multiple-line features we observe. Many episodes of ice cracking, shifting, rotating, and refreezing are required to explain the complexity we see. The icy crust might vary in thickness from a kilometer or so up to 20 kilometers. Further confirmation that a liquid ocean exists below the ice comes from measurements of the small magnetic field induced by Europa’s interactions with the magnetosphere of Jupiter. The “magnetic signature” of Europa is that of a liquid water ocean, not one of ice or rock.

If Europa really has a large ocean of liquid water under its ice, then it may be the only place in the solar system, other than Earth, with really large amounts of liquid water.¹ To remain liquid, this ocean must be warmed by heat escaping from the interior of Europa. Hot (or at least warm) springs might be active there, analogous to those we have discovered in the deep oceans of Earth. The necessary internal heat is generated by tidal heating (see the discussion later in this chapter).

What makes the idea of an ocean with warm springs exciting is the discovery in Earth’s oceans of large ecosystems clustered around deep ocean hot springs. Such life derives all its energy from the mineral-laden water and thrives independent of the sunlight shining on Earth’s surface. Is it possible that similar ecosystems could exist today under the ice of Europa?

Many scientists now think that Europa is the most likely place beyond Earth to find life in the solar system. In response, NASA is designing a Europa mission to characterize its liquid ocean and its ice crust, and to identify locations where material from inside has risen to the surface. Such interior material might reveal direct evidence for microbial life. In planning a future mission, it may be possible to include a small lander craft as well.

lo, a Volcanic Moon

Io, the innermost of Jupiter’s Galilean moons, is in many ways a close twin of our Moon, with nearly the same size and density. We might therefore expect it to have experienced a similar history. Its appearance, as photographed from space, tells us another story, however ([link]). Instead of being a dead cratered world, Io turns out to have the highest level of volcanism in the solar system, greatly exceeding that of Earth.

Two Sides of Io.

Io’s active volcanism was discovered by the Voyager spacecraft. Eight volcanoes were seen erupting when Voyager 1 passed in March 1979, and six of these were still active four months later when Voyager 2 passed. With the improved instruments carried by the Galileo spacecraft, more than 50 eruptions were found during 1997 alone. Many of the eruptions produce graceful plumes that extend hundreds of kilometers out into space ([link]).

Volcanic Eruptions on Io.

The Galileo data show that most of the volcanism on Io consists of hot silicate lava, like the volcanoes on Earth. Sometimes the hot lava encounters frozen deposits of sulfur and sulfur dioxide. When these icy deposits are suddenly heated, the result is great eruptive plumes far larger than any ejected from terrestrial volcanoes. As the rising plumes cool, the sulfur and sulfur dioxide recondense as solid particles that fall back to the surface in colorful “snowfalls” that extend as much as a thousand kilometers from the vent. Major new surface features were even seen to appear between Galileo orbits, as shown in [link].

Volcanic Changes on Io.

As the Galileo mission drew to a close, controllers were willing to take risks in getting close to Io. Approaching this moon is a dangerous maneuver because the belts of atomic particles trapped in Jupiter’s magnetic environment are at their most intense near Io’s orbit. Indeed, in its very first pass by Io, the spacecraft absorbed damaging radiation beyond its design levels. To keep the system working at all, controllers had to modify or disable various fault-protection software routines in the onboard computers. In spite of these difficulties, the spacecraft achieved four successful Io flybys, obtaining photos and spectra of the surface with unprecedented resolution.

Maps of Io reveal more than 100 recently active volcanoes. Huge flows spread out from many of these vents, covering about 25% of the moon’s total surface with still-warm lava. From these measurements, it seems clear that the bright surface colors that first attracted attention to Io are the result of a thin veneer of sulfur compounds. The underlying volcanism is driven by eruptions of molten silicates, just like on Earth ([link]).

Lava Fountains on Io.

Tidal Heating

How can Io remain volcanically active in spite of its small size? The answer, as we hinted earlier, lies in the effect of gravity, through tidal heating. Io is about the same distance from Jupiter as our Moon is from Earth. Yet Jupiter is more than 300 times more massive than Earth, causing forces that pull Io into an elongated shape, with a several-kilometer-high bulge extending toward Jupiter.

If Io always kept exactly the same face turned toward Jupiter, this bulge would not generate heat. However, Io’s orbit is not exactly circular due to gravitational perturbations (tugs) from Europa and Ganymede. In its slightly eccentric orbit, Io twists back and forth with respect to Jupiter, at the same time moving nearer and farther from the planet on each revolution. The twisting and flexing heat Io, much as repeated flexing of a wire coat hanger heats the wire.

After billions of years, this constant flexing and heating have taken their toll on Io, driving away water and carbon dioxide and other gases, so that now sulfur and sulfur compounds are the most volatile materials remaining. Its interior is entirely melted, and the crust itself is constantly recycled by volcanic activity.

In moving inward toward Jupiter from Callisto to Io, we have encountered more and more evidence of geological activity and internal heating, culminating in the violent volcanism on Io. Three of these surfaces are compared in [link]. Just as the character of the planets in our solar system depends in large measure on their distance from the Sun (and on the amount of heat they receive), so it appears that distance from a giant planet like Jupiter can play a large role in the composition and evolution of its moons (at least partly due to differences in internal heating of each moon by Jupiter’s unrelenting tidal forces).

Three Icy Moons.