[Home]Miranda

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1. Daughter of Prospero in William Shakespeare's The Tempest.

2. The smallest and innermost of Uranus' major moons. Discovered in 1948 by [Gerard Kuiper]?, it roughly half water ice with the remainder being divided between silicate? rock and methane-related organic compounds. Miranda's surface is criss-crossed by huge canyons up to 12 miles deep, with patchwork regions of broken terrain indicating intense geological activity in the moon's past. It is thought that this activity is likely powered by tidal stresses from Uranus, but another theory suggests that Miranda was at some point struck by a massive object that partially shattered the moon.

Data for Miranda:


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Edited October 15, 2001 5:31 am by Bryan Derksen (diff)
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