Does Jupiter give off enough heat to make life possible on one of its moons?
1 Answer
Possibly, but not directly. One of the moons is heated not directly, but through gravitational ‘squeezing’.
Explanation:
Io is pretty weird, it is deformed not only by Jupiter’s intense gravitational field (it is closest to its parent planet), but also by the other large moons. The problem is that there is very little water there and the most important pre-requisite for life seems to be liquid water. See here (http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/ask/100-Why-does-Io-have-so-many-volcanoes-) for more info.
Maybe Europa is a better bet, given that we know it has a liquid ocean sustained also by gravitational flexing. I think it is fair to say that scientific opinion is growing that it might be possible, but we simply do not know yet. This website gives more details (https://www.space.com/32995-jupiter-moon-europa-energy-life.html)
