Final answer:
Planets farther from the sun receive significantly less solar radiation, which influences their surface temperatures and can also affect geological activity, as internal heat sources become more critical for planets receiving less warmth from the sun.
Step-by-step explanation:
A planet’s features, including its temperature and surface conditions, vary significantly with its distance from the sun due to solar heating and gravitational influences. First, surface temperature is directly affected by the amount of solar radiation it receives, which decreases with the square of the distance from the Sun.
Applying the inverse square law, a planet or moon, such as those orbiting Jupiter (5.2 times farther from the Sun than Earth), would receive ≈ (1/5.2)² of the light, and Saturn's moons (9.5 times farther from the Sun than Earth) would receive ≈ (1/9.5)² of the light compared to Earth. Therefore, moons of Jupiter receive ≈ 0.037 times (3.7%) and moons of Saturn receive ≈ 0.011 times (1.1%) of the light Earth gets from the Sun.
Secondly, a planet’s geological activity can be influenced by its distance from the Sun, partly because internal heating through radioactive decay and tidal forces is more relevant for planets with less solar warming.