> So the magnetosphere acts almost like a venturi for particles… interesting. Would tidal locking to the > gas giant kill off the internal dynamo or would the gravitational stresses put on the moon by the giant
> be enough to keep things liquid?
I dunno about the venturi thing... is that the same as "accelerates solar wind particles"? ;)
Tidal locking I guess would depend on the distance of the satellite from the jovian (and hence its rotation/orbital period). Magnetic fields are generated by currents of circulating conductive material in a world's interior (be that molten iron in a core or a near-surface salty ocean), and the world needs to be rotating somewhat rapidly to sustain those currents. Ganymede's magnetic field is internally generated in a molten core (and an near-surface ocean, for that matter), but it's pretty weak compared to Earth's - probably because the rotation/orbital period is about a week.
The real question is whether a satellite with the right composition and an orbital/rotation period of a day would be able to create have a field comparable to the Earth because of that. Unfortunately, while Io has a molten core and a similar rotation period, it doesn't appear to have its own magnetic field - most likely because it's so extremely heated by tidal forces that any stable circulation in its interior is impossible. So... maybe?
Which kinda answers both of your questions, I guess. Too much tidal heating is bad because it would disrupt the internal currents needed to generate the field.
> be enough to keep things liquid?
I dunno about the venturi thing... is that the same as "accelerates solar wind particles"? ;)
Tidal locking I guess would depend on the distance of the satellite from the jovian (and hence its rotation/orbital period). Magnetic fields are generated by currents of circulating conductive material in a world's interior (be that molten iron in a core or a near-surface salty ocean), and the world needs to be rotating somewhat rapidly to sustain those currents. Ganymede's magnetic field is internally generated in a molten core (and an near-surface ocean, for that matter), but it's pretty weak compared to Earth's - probably because the rotation/orbital period is about a week.
The real question is whether a satellite with the right composition and an orbital/rotation period of a day would be able to create have a field comparable to the Earth because of that. Unfortunately, while Io has a molten core and a similar rotation period, it doesn't appear to have its own magnetic field - most likely because it's so extremely heated by tidal forces that any stable circulation in its interior is impossible. So... maybe?
Which kinda answers both of your questions, I guess. Too much tidal heating is bad because it would disrupt the internal currents needed to generate the field.