Icy Moon
Icy moons are believed to be a common class of natural satellites or planetoids with surfaces composed mostly of ice. An icy moon may harbor an ocean underneath the surface, and possibly include a rocky core of silicate or metallic rocks. It is thought that they may be composed of ice II. The prototype of this class of object is Europa.
Icy moons warmed by tides may be the most common type of object to have liquid water, and thus the type of object most likely to have water-based life.
Some icy moons exhibit cryovolcanism, as well as geysers. The best studied example is Enceladus.
Read more about Icy Moon: Icy Moons, Small Icy Moons
Famous quotes containing the words icy and/or moon:
“If we shake hands with icy fingers, it is because we’ve burnt them so hatefully before.”
—Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946)
“the broad cloud-driving moon in the clear sky
Lifts o’er the firs her shining shield,
And in her tranquil light
Sleep falls on forest and field.
See! sleep hath fallen: the trees are asleep:
The night is come. The land is wrapt in sleep.”
—Robert Bridges (1844–1930)