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Miranda

composite
This image is actually a composite of seven of the best images from the Voyager 2 Mission. From http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/

Miranda is the innermost and smallest of Uranus's major moons. It was discovered by Gerard Kuiper in 1948, who named it after a character in Shakespeare's The Tempest.[1]

Before the 1986 Voyager 2 mission, Miranda was assumed to be cold and geologically inactive. Miranda's most scientifically interesting feature prior to this mission was its unusually high orbital inclination. However, pictures taken by Voyager 2 showed that both Miranda and its sister moon Ariel were far more geologically active than expected.

Miranda's surface is currently thought to consist of crystallized water ice[2], with rock and organic compounds underneath.

 

 

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Voyager 2 image of Miranda taken shortly before closest approach. January 24, 1986. Range 19,000 miles. From http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/
Orbital Information
Semi-Major Axis
129,390 km
Eccentricity
0.0013
Orbital Period
1.431 days
Inclination
4.232°

 

Physical Characteristics
Mean Radius
235.8 ± 0.7 km
Mass
6.59 ± 0.75 × 1019 kg
Albedo
0.32
Apparent Magnitude
15.8

 

 

 

 

[1] Kuiper, G. P. "The Fifth Satellite of Uranus." Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 61.360. (1949): 12.

[2] Bauer, James M. " The Near Infrared Spectrum of Miranda: Evidence of Crystalline Water Ice." Icarus. 158.1 (2002): 178-190.