Patchwork moon of UranusA world assembled from fragments

Miranda

Miranda looks like a collage of different landscapes, sliced by canyons and enormous cliffs.

Moon of Uranus · 472 km across · 1.41-day orbit · home to Verona Rupes

Host: Uranus
Type: Small icy moon
Mean diameter: 472 km
Mean orbital radius: 129,390 km
Orbital period: 1.41 days
Surface gravity: 0.079 m/s²
Key feature: Verona Rupes
Discovered: 1948 · Gerard Kuiper

Miranda up close

NASA imagery

Voyager 2 mosaic of Uranus's moon Miranda showing bright and dark patchwork terrain — **Miranda's icy face** Voyager 2 assembled this view of Miranda during its 1986 Uranus flyby. Bright ovoid coronae sit beside older cratered terrain and deep fractures. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

A geological patchwork

Miranda combines heavily cratered regions with bright oval coronae crossed by parallel ridges and grooves. The transitions are abrupt, making the moon look as though separate landscapes were pieced together.

The coronae may have formed through upwelling of warm ice or tectonic stretching. Their young appearance suggests Miranda was active after most of its older cratered surface had formed.

Cliffs beyond comparison

Verona Rupes is a fault scarp estimated to be as much as 20 kilometres high. In Miranda's weak gravity, an object falling from its top could take more than ten minutes to reach the base.

Voyager 2 remains the only spacecraft to have visited Miranda at close range. A future Uranus orbiter would be needed to resolve the moon's geological sequence.

Worth knowing

Miranda is named after a character in Shakespeare's The Tempest.
Its cliffs may be the tallest known in the Solar System.
Voyager 2 discovered Miranda's complex terrain during its only visit in 1986.

Watch and explore

Research & further reading

Mission imagery and measurements are interpreted alongside orbital data. Follow the source links for the current NASA overview and precise satellite parameters.

Mission reference NASA · Miranda ↗ NASA's overview of Miranda and its exploration. Orbital data NASA/JPL satellite elements ↗ Mean orbital elements and current satellite catalogue data.