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Originally Posted by Metricyard
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Originally Posted by Jerry
This is an interesting search. After finding a magnetic field on Europa, researchers concluded that there must be a salt water ocean under the skin of the moon, because Europa is 'too light' to have enough iron as magna to cause the observed magnetic moment.
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No, the scientists concluded that there MAY be a salt water ocean. Nowhere in all the articles I searched through on Europa mentions that it is too small for an iron core. Their observations of the changing magnetic field shows evidence of water, not that water is causing a magnetic field.
Nice try though.
Here is an article on Europa that even has a diagram that shows a metalic core. |
Size matters. So does density. Nobody knows what lies under the surface of Europa, except superman. The only reason it is assumed that the iron core of Europa must be small (if it exists at all), and that a saltwater ocean lies hidden under the skin of Europa, is that the density is predicted to be too low to support as massive core of iron and yes, nickle, relative to the size of the moon. A compositional profile similar to the Earth would yield a density that is too great. And yet Europa has a magnetic field. So like a James Bond movie, a hidden lake lies just underneath each crater.
Notice how much the Ice fields of Europa, in your reference, resemble the Ice fields on the poles of the Earth, and the ice fields covering Enceladus? Why is are the -water-ice rocks of Titan so different? Could it be that they are rocks, not ice-water rocks? Rocks too dense to reside on a moon with a density of less then two, so they must be made out of water-ice? Bad logic. Bad conclusion - it is not supported by the evidence. Bad Astronomy.