(ORDO NEWS) — Miranda is the closest and smallest of the five rounded moons of Uranus , the seventh planet from the Sun in the solar system.
The satellite is named after the girl Miranda, who is the heroine of William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. In addition, this mysterious satellite appears in Arthur C. Clarke’s novel 2001: A Space Odyssey. Here are some more interesting facts about Miranda:
- The Miranda satellite was discovered in 1948 by astronomer Gerard Peter Kuiper, after whom the Kuiper belt , which “rings” the outer solar system, is named.
- Miranda is composed primarily of ice with a small amount of rocky material, the highest concentration of which is observed closer to the center of the satellite.
- The surface of Miranda is “mutilated” by tidal forces from Uranus, which seems to be trying to tear its own satellite apart. Miranda’s topography ranges from steep cliffs to deep craters and faults.
- Verona Ledge (lat. Verona Rupes) is the largest rock in the solar system, the height of which is about 20 kilometers. It was formed when the surface broke and part of it “fell”, sinking several kilometers below the surrounding landscape. The Verona Ledge is the largest rock, but the Martian Mount Olympus is the largest volcano and the largest mountain in the solar system.
- There are several tectonic regions on the surface of Miranda that look like channels. These landforms are called crowns and can be formed by updrafts of relatively warm material below the surface.
- Miranda is one of the smallest bodies in the solar system, which rotates around its axis under the influence of its own gravity.
- The orbital resonance with Umbriel (3:1) increases the eccentricity of Miranda’s orbit, which leads to an increase in the magnitude of the tidal forces from Uranus and, as a result, Miranda’s “insides” constantly rub and heat up.
- NASA‘s Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to reach the Uranus system, taking pictures of Miranda and collecting invaluable data to get closer to the mysterious world.
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