Active moons in our Solar System and beyond -- Io, Europa, Enceladus, Triton, and exomoons
Abstract
The outgassing signatures of Io, Europa, Enceladus, Triton, and Io-like exomoons are the focus of this review chapter. The rocky volcanic world of Io is unique in our Solar System, with plumes reaching to hundreds of kilometres in altitude. Io-like exomoons could leave signatures strong enough to be detected with ground-based telescopes. The icy moons Europa and Enceladus, with their subsurface oceans, are currently the best candidates for life. Triton is different in many ways and raises unexplored questions. Our knowledge of these active moons is derived from space- and ground-based observations. To understand their origin, we discuss moon formation in general, before examining evidence and signatures of plumes on these moons. Given the accessibility of subsurface oceanic material through the occurrence of plumes, we expand on possibilities to investigate biosignatures.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2604.12104,
title = {Active moons in our Solar System and beyond -- Io, Europa, Enceladus, Triton, and exomoons},
author = {Caroline Haslebacher and Emeline Bolmont and Marco Cilibrasi and Jonathan Grone and Nico Haslebacher and Ravit Helled and Mathilde Kervazo and Niels F. W. Ligterink and Christophe Lovis and Lucio Mayer and Lorenzo Obersnel and Rafael Ottersberg and Apurva V. Oza and C. H. Lucas Patty and Antoine Pommerol and Ganna Portyankina and Alyssa R. Rhoden and Leander Schlarmann and Yuhito Shibaike and Vishaal Singh and Audrey H. Vorburger and Peter Wurz},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.12104},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
Chapter accepted for publication in the NCCR PlanetS Legacy Book: Benz, W. et al. (Eds), The National Center for Competence in Research, PlanetS: A Swiss-wide network expanding planetary sciences. Springer (2026). Authors are listed alphabetically after the lead author