Recent observations using the James Webb Space Telescope suggest that there may be a hidden ocean beneath the surface of Ariel, one of Uranus’ moons.
Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers collected emission spectra from Ariel and compared them to spectra of chemical mixtures simulated in the laboratory. This showed that the moon has carbon dioxide-rich deposits. This is interesting because in the cold regions of the solar system where Uranus orbits—20 times farther from the sun than Earth—carbon dioxide easily turns into gas and escapes into space. This in turn means that some process must be bringing carbon dioxide to Ariel’s surface.
Until now, the most popular idea has been that interactions between the moon’s surface and charged particles in Uranus’ magnetosphere produce carbon dioxide through a process called radiolysis. However, new research published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters (doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad566a) suggests that carbon dioxide and other molecules are escaping from the moon’s interior, and perhaps from a subsurface ocean.
Ariel
Ariel is among the five largest moons of Uranus. There are 28 natural satellites orbiting the ice giant. At least that much we know of. The five largest are Titania (about 1,578 km in diameter), Oberon (about 1,522 km in diameter), Umbriel (about 1,169 km in diameter), Ariel (about 1,158 km in diameter) and Miranda (about 471 km in diameter).
Ariel was discovered with Umbriel in 1851 by William Lassell. Its name comes from two different literary works – from William Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest” and Alexander Pope’s poem “The Snatched Lock”. In 1986, during a flyby of Uranus, the Voyager 2 probe took images of Ariel, the only high-resolution images of the moon available to date. These images showed Ariel’s surface full of craters and deep, long valleys.
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Researchers believe Ariel is composed of icy and rocky materials. Its surface is relatively young and shows signs of geological activity, likely due to tidal heating. Research published last year concluded that there may be water on the moon.
Uranus is unique in the Solar System because its axis of rotation is highly tilted. Its poles lie where most planets have equators. Ariel orbits Uranus in the equatorial plane, which is nearly perpendicular to the planet’s orbit.
subsurface ocean
Chemical elements and molecules absorb and emit light at distinct wavelengths, leaving individual “fingerprints” in their emission spectra. Using the Webb telescope, a research team led by Richard Cartwright of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory collected spectra of the moon, allowing them to determine its chemical composition in detail. Comparing these with simulated spectra of a chemical mixture prepared in a laboratory on Earth revealed that Ariel has some of the richest deposits of carbon dioxide in the solar system. In addition, the scientists found chemical fingerprints of carbon monoxide in the spectra.
“It shouldn’t be there,” Cartwright said. “You have to get to 30 K (-233 degrees Celsius – editor’s note) before carbon monoxide becomes stable.” Meanwhile, Ariel’s average surface temperature is about 18 degrees Celsius. “The carbon monoxide has to be regenerated effectively, without a doubt,” the researcher added.
Cartwright acknowledged that radiolysis may be responsible for some of this regeneration. Laboratory experiments have shown that radioactive bombardment of water ice mixed with carbon-rich material can produce both carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. However, observations from the Voyager 2 mission and other recent discoveries suggest that the interactions behind radiolysis may be limited because the axis of Uranus’s magnetic field and the orbital plane of its moons are offset by about 58 degrees.
The scientists concluded that most of the carbon oxides may come from chemical processes occurring in the subsurface ocean. These compounds likely reached Ariel’s surface through cracks in the moon’s icy crust. Moreover, the new observations suggest that Ariel’s surface may also contain carbonate minerals, which can only form when liquid water interacts with rocks.
Source: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Space.com, NASA/JPL/CC0
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