Natural Satellites With Possibility Of Life In Our Solar System

       

       

  Natural Satellites With Possibility Of Life In Our Solar System

          

Enceladus 

 

 

        Enceladus is the second nearest of the major regular moons of Saturn and brightest of all it's moons.  It was discovered in 1789 by the English astronomer William Herschel . It is about 500 km (310 miles ) in diameter and orbits Saturn in a prograde , nearly circular path at a mean distance of  238,020 km (147,899 miles ). It's average density is only 60 percent greater than that of water , which indicates that its interior contains appreciable amounts of non- ice material . It's surface reflect all of the light that strikes it's surface in comparison to our  Moon that reflect only 7 percent of it. It's surface is almost pure water ice , with trace amounts of carbon dioxide , ammonia , and light hydrocarbons. 

  Titan

Titan is the largest moon of the Saturn and the second largest natural satellite in the Solar System . Its the only moon to have dense atmosphere and the only body known to have clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid. Titan is 50 percent larger and 80 percent more massive than  our moon. Titan is composed of ice and rocky material , that is differentiated by different layers of ice , including the crust of ice and a subsurface of ammonia-rich liquid water. Titan consists of clouds ,rain ,rivers ,lakes and seas of liquid hydrocarbons like methane and ethane . Titan takes 15 days and 22 hours to complete a full orbit of Saturn . Its surface temperature is about 94K (-179 degree Celsius or -290 degree Fahrenheit). Titan receives 1 percent as much Sunlight as Earth .

    Europa 

   

Europa is primarily made of silicate rock and has a water-ice crust and  probably an Iron-nickel core. It consist of very thin atmosphere, primarily composed of oxygen . Europa has the smoothest surface of any known solid object in the Solar System. Europa has a diameter of 3,100 kilometers(1,900 mi ) and is the sixth-largest moon in the Solar system . Its  surface temperature averages about 110 K ( -160 degree Celsius ,-260 degree Fahrenheit) at the equator and only 50 K (-220 degree Celsius , -370 degree Fahrenheit ) at the poles , keeping Europa's icy crust as hard as granite . Light from the Sun takes about 45 minutes to reach Europa . Europa orbits Jupiter every 3.5 days and is locked by gravity to Jupiter, so the same hemisphere of the moon always faces the Planet. 

 

Ganymede

Ganymede is  largest of the Jupiter's satellites and of all the satellites in the solar system. It has a diameter of about 5,270 km (3,275 miles ), which makes it larger than  planet Mercury. It orbits Jupiter a distance of 1,070,000km (665,000 miles ). It has relatively density of 1.93 grams per cubic cm indicating its composition is roughly half rock and half water ice by mass. Ganymede has a thin oxygen atmosphere that includes O,O2, and possibly O3(ozone).It is tidally locked to Jupiter , with one side always facing towards the planet , hence its day is seven days and three hours. Ganymede has temperature ranging across the surface from 90 to 160 Kelvin (or -297 to -171 degrees Fahrenheit ).

      Triton 

Triton is the largest natural satellite of Neptune . Its diameter is 2,710 kilometers (1680 miles) and is the seventh-largest moon in the solar system, it is massive enough to be hydrostatic equilibrium and the second-largest planetary moon in relation to its primary , after Earth's Moon. It has a surface mostly of frozen nitrogen , a mostly water ice crust and a icy mantle and a substantial core of rock and metal. Triton has retrograde orbit around its planet (i.e. it orbits in a direction opposite to the planets rotation .) . Triton has a tenuous nitrogen atmosphere , with trace amounts of carbon monoxide and small amounts  of methane near its surface. Its surface temperature is around 35.6 K (-237.6 degree Celsius)

 Callisto 

   

Callisto is Jupiter's second largest moon after Ganymede and is the third largest moon in our solar system . Its circumference at its equator is about 9,410 miles (15,144 kilometers ). Callisto orbits about 1,170,000 miles ( 1,883,000 kilometers ) from Jupiter .  It takes about 17 Earth days for Callisto to complete one orbit of Jupiter . It has an icy surface covered by craters of various shapes and sizes , including bowl-shaped craters and craters with multiple rings . It has a very thin carbon dioxide exosphere and extremely thin atmosphere and also has oxygen and hydrogen in its exosphere. It may have salty ocean that's interacting with a layer of rocks about 155 miles (250 kilometers)beneath the surface. It has a surface temperature of ( -218.47 degrees Fahrenheit / -139 degree Celsius ).