What is notable about the Uranian moon Miranda?
Miranda’s surface is nearly as bright as that of Ariel, the brightest of the larger Uranian moons, but none of them reflect more than about a third of the sunlight that strikes them. Of the five Uranian moons known before Voyager 2 visited the planet, Miranda is the smallest and closest to the planet.
What is the size of Miranda the moon?
293.04 mi
Miranda/Diameter
What makes the Triton Moon special?
Triton is the largest of Neptune’s 13 moons. It is unusual because it is the only large moon in our solar system that orbits in the opposite direction of its planet’s rotation―a retrograde orbit. Like our own moon, Triton is locked in synchronous rotation with Neptune―one side faces the planet at all times.
What makes Miranda special?
Miranda is unlike any other body in the Solar System. Its surface is a jumbled assortment of curious terrains. Miranda is thought to be composed of about water ice and half rocky material. Miranda looks almost as if several different pieces of rock were glued together in a random fashion.
What type of planetary body is Miranda?
Miranda, also designated Uranus V, is the smallest and innermost of Uranus’s five round satellites. It was discovered by Gerard Kuiper on 16 February 1948 at McDonald Observatory in Texas, and named after Miranda from William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest.
Is Miranda a dwarf planet?
At just 470 km in diameter, Miranda is one of the smallest closely observed objects in the Solar System that might be in hydrostatic equilibrium (spherical under its own gravity)….Miranda (moon)
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 480 × 468.4 × 465.8 km |
| Mean radius | 235.8±0.7 km (0.03697 Earths) |
| Surface area | 700,000 km2 |
| Volume | 54,835,000 km3 |
How old is Miranda moon?
Miranda was discovered on 16 February 1948 by planetary astronomer Gerard Kuiper using the McDonald Observatory’s 82-inch (2,080 mm) Otto Struve Telescope. Its motion around Uranus was confirmed on 1 March 1948. It was the first satellite of Uranus discovered in nearly 100 years.
Who discovered the Triton moon?
William Lassell
Triton/Discoverers
What are the physical characteristics of Miranda?
Physical characteristics. Only water has been detected so far on Miranda’s surface, though it has been speculated that methane, ammonia, carbon monoxide or nitrogen may also exist at 3% concentrations. These bulk properties are similar to Saturn’s moon Mimas, though Mimas is smaller, less dense, and more oblate.
What is the density of Uranus’s moon Miranda?
At 1.2 g/cm 3, Miranda is the least dense of Uranus’s round satellites. That density suggests a composition of more than 60% water ice.
What type of geology does the moon Miranda have?
Miranda (moon) Miranda has one of the most extreme and varied topographies of any object in the Solar System, including Verona Rupes, a 20-kilometer-high scarp that is the highest cliff in the Solar System, and chevron-shaped tectonic features called coronae. The origin and evolution of this varied geology, the most of any Uranian satellite,…
How big are the canyons and cliffs of Miranda?
The canyons are hundreds of kilometers long and tens of kilometers wide. Miranda also has the largest-known cliff in the Solar System, Verona Rupes, which has a height of 20 km (12 mi).