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Space/Science » in reply to Callistan ocean

Re: Callistan ocean

(Ahah)

"Because Callisto's atmosphere is extremely tenuous and lacking in charged particles, it would not be sufficient to generate Callisto's magnetic field; nor would Callisto's icy crust be a good conductor, but there very well could be a layer of melted ice underneath," Kivelson said. "If this liquid were salty like Earth's oceans, it could carry sufficient electrical currents to produce the magnetic field."

Lending further credence to the premise of a subsurface ocean on Callisto, Galileo data showed that electrical currents were flowing in opposite directions at different times. "This is a key signature consistent with the idea of a salty ocean," Khurana added, "because it shows that Callisto's response, like Europa's, is synchronized with the effects of Jupiter's rotation."

and

currently, Callisto's ocean is only being heated by radioactive elements, whereas Europa has tidal energy as well," from its greater proximity to Jupiter.

Thanks, Alex.

Marcia
*Sorry, that pasting was more for me that it may have been to most of you.

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