Are there earthquakes on other planets?
We Asked a NASA Scientist.
Yes, definitely.
But on other worlds, these aren't called earthquakes.
They're called moonquakes or marsquakes
if they're on the Moon and Mars.
We know that these exist
because we actually sent seismometers to the Moon and to Mars.
And when we sent seismometers to these worlds,
we actually found thousands of quakes underneath the surface.
Even when we don't have seismometers on other planets,
we can actually tell that some worlds have earthquakes
or had earthquakes in the past because there are cracks at the surface.
And so when we see cracked rocks or even cracked ice on places
like Europa and Enceladus, we know for a fact
that there were quakes there to generate those cracks.
Quakes of all sizes are really interesting and they can tell us a lot
about the inside of a planet.
Bigger earthquakes, bigger marsquakes and bigger moonquakes can tell us
about really deep processes and features on these planets.
Now, recently, we've discovered that the Moon also has
a small liquid core surrounding its solid core.
And we've also discovered, thanks to NASA InSight, that the
Mars core is actually larger than we initially thought,
which means it's actually less dense,
which is a really interesting science puzzle.
So understanding the interior of other worlds will help us
understand how our own world, the Earth, evolved.
So are there earthquakes on other planets?
Definitely.
Moonquakes, marsquakes and possibly one day we'll be able to send seismometers
elsewhere to record europaquakes and enceladusquakes and beyond.
We asked a NASA scientist.
NASA. A NASA 360 Production.