Object Analysis

Miranda is the smallest and innermost of the five major moons of Uranus. It was discovered by Gerard Kuiper in 1948. Despite being only 470 kilometers in diameter, Miranda possesses some of the most extreme and varied topography in the entire Solar System, including giant canyons, terraced layers, and a cliff known as Verona Rupes.

Verona Rupes is estimated to be 20 kilometers (12 miles) high, making it the tallest cliff in the known Solar System. If a human were to jump from the top, the low gravity would mean a fall lasting nearly 10 minutes. Miranda also features "coronae"—large, ovoid features that look like giant racetracks carved into the surface.

The moon's bizarre "patchwork" appearance led scientists to originally hypothesize that Miranda had been shattered by a massive impact and then reassembled by gravity. More recent theories suggest that intense tidal heating from Uranus caused upwellings of icy material that partially resurfaced the moon, creating the chaotic geology we see today.