Hidden Oceans Likely Beneath Uranus’ Titania and Oberon

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Source: Space Daily
Hidden Oceans Likely Beneath Uranus’ Titania and Oberon
Photo: Space Daily
TL;DR Summary

Thermal models suggest Uranus’s moons Titania and Oberon could host tens-of-kilometre-scale subsurface oceans kept warm by long-lived radioactive decay in their rocky interiors, not by sunlight. While not yet confirmed by direct measurements, these moons are strong ocean-world candidates, potentially expanding the solar system’s roster of habitable worlds; a future Uranus orbiter could test for signs of oceans via gravity, magnetic, and surface observations, with Ariel and Umbriel also flagged as possible candidates under certain conditions and tides providing extra heating.

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