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Jump30of 100 · 2,720 M km from Earth

Miranda: the Frankenstein moon

Miranda, a moon of Uranus, looks made of parts that do not fit, has a huge cliff and may have had an ocean. Facts with their sources.

Miranda, a grey moon with smooth areas and others crossed by grooves and cliffs, photographed by Voyager 2
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech · original

Curious facts

  1. Made of parts

    It is about 500 km across and looks pieced together from parts that never quite merged. NASA compares it to Frankenstein’s monster. 1

  2. One single visit

    The close-up photos we have come from Voyager 2, which flew past it on 24 January 1986. 1

  3. A cliff about 20 km deep

    Its cliff Verona Rupes may drop about 20 km: a rock would take about 12 minutes to reach the bottom. NASA sources do not agree on the figures, and another puts it at 5 km. 23

  4. It may have had a 100 km ocean

    A 2024 study estimates that 100 to 500 million years ago it had an ocean at least 100 km deep under its ice, and that a thin layer may remain today. 4

Miranda in Orbit

In the game, Miranda is jump 30 of the route, 2,720 M km from Earth. Its logbook card says:

Logbook · Jump 30

Has Verona Rupes, a cliff about 20 km high

I want to try Orbit Already in the group: download

Two steps with the Google account you use on Play: join the group, then download the test. Google Play can take a while, sometimes more than an hour, before it lets you download it; if you see “Item not found”, wait and try again.

What Orbit is like

Sources

  1. NASA, Miranda. science.nasa.gov/uranus/moons/miranda
  2. NASA APOD, 29 November 2020. apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201129.html
  3. NASA Photojournal, PIA00044. photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00044
  4. University of North Dakota, 2024. blogs.und.edu/press-releases/2024/10/uranus-moon-miranda-may-have-an-ocean-beneath-its-surface-new-study-finds

Checked between 8 and 11 October 2026.

Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech · original