Miranda

moons · Uranus · ice worlds · space exploration

Discovered in 1948. Gerard Kuiper found Miranda using a telescope at McDonald Observatory in Texas on February 16, 1948. It was named after a character from Shakespeare's play The Tempest.

Frozen and small. Miranda is the smallest and innermost of Uranus's five large moons. It orbits very close to Uranus and is covered in ice and rock.

Weird orbital tilt. Because Uranus spins on its side as it travels around the Sun, Miranda's orbit is nearly perpendicular to the flat plane where most planets orbit. This gives Miranda an extreme seasonal cycle unlike anything near Earth.

Jumbled surface. Miranda has one of the most bizarre landscapes in the solar system, with towering cliffs, deep valleys, and patches that look like they were assembled from different puzzle pieces. Scientists think a cosmic collision may have broken it apart and let it reassemble.