The presence of water in any other celestial body other than Earth has been and is a reason for research since we have an interest in space.
Now, a new study has revealed that the two largest moons of Uranus, the seventh planet in our solar system, Titania and Oberon, could hide hidden oceans beneath their surface. Surface temperatures averaging around -200 ° C show that these worlds are covered in ice, but radioactive elements deep within these moons can keep some of their inner water melted . In fact, many smaller moons of Uranus closer to the planet than Titania and Oberon get most of their internal heat from tidal warming.
Research author Francis Nimmo from the University of California (USA) told New Scientist magazine: “I can bet there are oceans in these bodies .” According to Nimmo, both moons could support the subterranean ocean today if there was little heat loss through their outer polar caps, computer simulations showed. Although, yes, there could be other factors that would prevent the underground liquid oceans of Titania and Oberon from freezing (such as if the surface is more or less porous, if the liquid oceans contain ammonia or not or even if the clathrates – the cages of atoms with another atom trapped inside – could limit the flow of heat out of the ocean.
As a curiosity, Titania is 1,576 km in diameter, while Oberón is around 1,522 km in diameter.
Scientists point to the importance of designing future missions aimed at exploring possible oceans on the five main moons of Uranus : Oberon, Titania, Umbriel, Ariel and Miranda. NASA, for example, intends to launch a space probe in the 2030s to Uranus and Neptune and their respective natural satellites.
