Miranda (the moon)
See also: Miranda
Miranda (U V Miranda) is a satellite of Uranus, smallest and nearest to its five principal satellites. This moon was discovered in 1948 by Gerald Kuiper. It bears the name of Miranda, the girl of the magician Prospero in “the Storm” of William Shakespeare.
Miranda was photographed of rather near by the probe Voyager 2 in January 1986. During its overflight, the southern hemisphere being turned towards the sun, the observations were limited to this part.
Physical characteristics
The weak density of Miranda would indicate that it is made up of Silicate S and organic compounds derived from the Méthane. As for the surface of Miranda, it would be made up mainly of Glace of Eau. This surface is crossed of all shares by faults and gigantic canyons, sometimes deep of 20.000 meters, the mountains reach 24.000 meters of altitude and the valleys 16.000 meters of depth. Miranda also divides with Venus of the rare planetary structures named crowns (enormous circular ravines surrounding a kind of plate) perhaps due to Diapir S of molten ice.
These elements combine to create a chaotic geography indicating that this moon knew an intense geological activity in the past. It is thought that this activity would come from the Forces of tide of Uranus, but another theory suggests perhaps that Miranda was run up against by a massive object which would have partly broken the moon, which would have been then reconstituted.
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