(
Astronomy)
Miranda is a small satellite orbiting Uranus.
Its diameter of only 470 kilometers (290 miles).
It was discovered by Gerard Peter Kuiper in 1948.
Its surface is unlike anything in the
solar system, with features that seem jumbled together
more or less randomly. Miranda consists of huge fault
canyons as deep as 20 kilometers (12 miles), terraced
layers and a mixture of old and young surfaces.
Multiple theories exist as to why this is the case,
although no conclusion has been reached yet.
The younger regions might have been produced by incomplete
differentiation of the moon, a process in which upwelling
of lighter material surfaced in limited areas. Alternatively,
scientists believe that Miranda may have been shattered
as many as five times during its evolution. After each
shattering the moon would have reassembled from the
remains of its former self with portions of the core
exposed and portions of the surface buried.