Archive

Io close to thermal equilibrium

Is Io in thermal equilibrium? Using a set of astrometric observations of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto) covering the years 1891-2007, astronomers of the Paris Observatory and the Royal Observatory of Belgium have shown that the heat produced by tides deep inside Io compensates for the heat loss at its surface. Tidal dissipation in Jupiter induced by IoÂ’s gravitational pull has also been found close to its expected higher limit. This is the first time that tidal dissipation in a giant planet is reliably quantified from astrometry.

These results are published in the journal Nature on June 18.

More...