Chapter 14

Suppose a satellite has a diameter of \(800 \mathrm{km}\) and an orbit that lies nearly in the equatorial plane of its parent planet well outside of the planet's ring system. Is the satellite likely to be a regular satellite, a collision fragment, or a captured asteroid?

What properties of a satellite would suggest that it may be a captured asteroid?

What is the reason that an icy satellite has less radioactive heating than a rocky satellite does?

Under what conditions is tidal heating likely to be important for a satellite?

What evidence is there that the surface of Io is very young?

What powers the internal activity of Io?

The surface of Europa is smooth and relatively craterfree, yet it lacks volcanos to deposit fresh material on the surface. What are possible reasons why Europa's surface is so smooth?

Iapetus always appears brighter when it is about to pass behind Saturn than when it reappears from behind Saturn. Draw a diagram to show that this effect is related to the distribution of dark and bright regions on the surface of Iapetus.

Compare the atmosphere of Titan to that of Earth with respect to composition, pressure, and temperature.

Write a description of what you might see if you visited the surface of Titan.

Both the Moon and Triton raise tidal bulges on the planet they orbit. Why does the tidal bulge on Neptune cause Triton to spiral inward while the tidal bulge on the Earth causes the Moon to spiral outward?