Professor Lewis Dartnell, Professor of Science Communication, wrote an article for BBC Sky at Night about whether Uranus’ moons consists of subsurface oceans by examining their magnetic field.
In the article, he explains that by detecting the presence of a magnetic field generated by Jupiter’s moons, this can be used as evidence to show that there must be a layer of something hidden beneath the frozen face of the moons that is electrically conductive, which could possibly be present in Uranus’ moons also.
Commenting on the techniques used to detect magnetic fields, Professor Dartnell said: “While the Galileo spacecraft was looping around the Jovian system in the 1990s it detected something very strange about two of the larger moons. Galileo was equipped with a magnetometer – an instrument for measuring magnetic fields, a bit like an extremely sensitive compass needle – and every time the spacecraft performed a flyby of Galilean moons Europa or Callisto it sensed the field lines of Jupiter’s powerful magnetic field draping around the moons. The satellites seemed to possess a weak magnetic field that was interacting with that of Jupiter…it was being created indirectly, as the moons moved through Jupiter’s own field.”
Regarding the speculation surrounding Uranus, he added: “Uranus’s quirky magnetic field would allow a probe to deduce a great deal about a subsurface ocean. The ice giant’s magnetic field is not only pretty intense, but crucially is tilted significantly relative to the orbits of the major moons – by around 60° – and is also offset from the centre of the planet. The planet’s satellites experience a magnetic field that is constantly varying. The induction effects of this within the moon’s interior mean that researchers could even start working out the depth, thickness and conductivity of different subsurface layers.”
Read the full article on the BBC Sky at Night website.
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