Speaker: Dr. Kevin T. Trinh
Affiliation: Caltech
Date: Thursday, October 15, 2026
Time: 12:00 PM
Abstract
Icy moons are central to comparative planetology and astrobiology, thus attracting scientists from many disciplines. In the past decades, many studies on the interior evolution and present-day conditions of moons like Europa and Ganymede assume that these moons formed hot with a metal-sulfide core (>1250 K), like Earth. In contrast, numerous formation models suggest that most icy moons accreted cold (i.e., ~a few hundred K), calling for a reevaluation of their long-term evolution. In this talk, I’ll introduce the “Cold Start” framework for endogenous icy moons and discuss its potential consequences. Topics will emphasize Europa (Trinh, 2023+ (opens in a new tab)) and Ganymede (Trinh, 2026+ (opens in a new tab)). The unifying theme is that the timing and extent of planetary differentiation may contribute to many diverse features we see in solar system moons, with implications for the origin of oceans, seafloor volcanism, metallic core formation, planetary dynamos, and habitability.