Researchers Announce 4 of Uranus’ Moons Likely Have Liquid Water

In a recent paper, astronomers published research suggesting Uranus’ four largest moons may have liquid oceans beneath their surfaces. This research comes from re-analyzing data collected by NASA’s Voyager 2 flyby of the planet in January of 1986.

Uranus, photographed by Voyager 2 on January 14th 1986. First published December 18th, 1986. Credit: NASA/JPL.

Researchers chose to investigate the largest five of Uranus’ moons, all of which have been considered potential targets of future science missions due to their potential to harbor liquid water on their surfaces. What they found was that the four largest, Ariel, Umbrian, Titania, and Oberon likely have liquid oceans, while the fifth largest, Miranda, likely does not. The authors of the study proposed that this is likely because Miranda is too small to retain the heat required to keep a liquid ocean, and any ocean that was once there is likely now frozen solid.

Several other moons are likely to have liquid oceans under their icy surfaces as well, such as Jupiter’s moons Europa, which has long been a planned target of study due to its deep, liquid oceans. Additionally, two of Jupiter’s other moons, Ganymede and Callisto, were recently discovered to have a higher probability of liquid oceans than we originally thought. These three moons will be the focus of the European Space Agency’s latest probe, The JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE), which launched in April.