Europa has emerged as one of the most interesting objects in the solar system for a variety of reasons. It has some of the most active and dynamic geology in the solar system. Its ocean offers the exciting prospect of a habitable setting for extraterrestrial life. This chapter touches only briefly on some highlights, with reference to more detailed and complete surveys in the literature. Most remarkably, all of the characteristics that make Europa so exciting are the results of orbital dynamics, specifically the Laplace resonance, and all of them are made possible by the action of tides. Celestial mechanics has now become central to understanding planetary geology and geophysics, as well as the new discipline of astrobiology.
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