What is Miranda?
Miranda is a moon of Uranus, its smallest and innermost. Miranda is about 1/8th the size of our moon, 290 miles in diameter (235.8 km), but still spherical. Miranda is unusual among the moons of the solar system in that it’s most immediately apparent features are not craters, but its jagged and craggy terrain, including a cliff over three miles high. Miranda looks similar to how a golf ball might look if put in a blender. This moon was first discovered by Gerard Kuiper in 1948. From Earth and space-based telescopes, Miranda looks just like a blurry dot, but in January 1986 the Voyager 2 probe did a close fly-by, giving us detailed pictures which are now standard for sections on Miranda in astronomy books. Miranda is the most geologically active moon in the Uranian system, and was much more active in the past. Besides huge cliffs, it is criss-crossed by numerous canyons and upwellings called coronae. The likely source of Miranda’s geological activity is tidal warming, caused by its ecce
