Miranda Archives

Major icy bodies in the Solar System, with the Earth’s moon to scale. The images are shown at the proper relative size. From NASA’s Planetary Photojournal (https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/), Earth’s Moon (PIA00302), Europa (PIA00502), Ganymede (PIA00716), Callisto (PIA03456), Mimas (PIA06258), Enceladus (PIA06254), Tethys (PIA07738), Dione (PIA08256), Rhea (PIA08256), Titan (PIA08256), Hyperion (PIA07740), Iapetus (PIA08384), Phoebe (PIA06064), Miranda (PIA18185), Ariel (PIA01534), Umbriel (PIA00040), Titania (PIA01979), Oberon (PIA00034), Triton (PIA00317), Pluto (PIA19952). -- astro-ph.EP

Ariel, Astrogeology, Callisto, Ceres, Charon, Dione, Enceladus, Europa, Ganymede, Iapetus, Ice Giant, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Mimas, Miranda, Missions & Hardware, Moon, Oberon, Phoebe, Pluto, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Rhea, Status Report, Tethys, Titan, Titania, Triton, Umbriel, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Icy Worlds: Moons And Dwarf Planets

by Keith CowingDecember 1, 2025December 1, 2025

In the outer solar system beyond Jupiter, water ice is a dominant component of planetary bodies, and most solid objects in this region are classified as icy bodies.

New research suggests that Ariel, a moon of Uranus, might have once harbored an ocean over 100 miles (about 170 kilometers) deep. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/PSI/Mikayla Kelley/Peter Buhler

Ariel, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Miranda, Press Release, Uranus, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Evidence Of A Past, Deep Ocean On Ariel, A Uranian Moon

by Keith CowingSeptember 30, 2025September 30, 2025

Growing evidence suggests that a subsurface ocean lurks beneath the icy surface of Uranus’ moon Ariel, but new research, published in Icarus, characterizes the possible evolution of this ocean, and […]

Ariel, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Miranda, Press Release, Uranus, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Ocean Worlds: New Study Suggests Trench-Like Features on Uranus’ Moon Ariel May Be Windows to Its Interior

by Keith CowingFebruary 4, 2025February 4, 2025

Last year, a study led by planetary scientist Richard Cartwright at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, proposed that deposits of carbon dioxide ice and other […]

Magnetic field of Uranus. (left) Magnetic field line geometry of Uranus for Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox in the Uranus–Sun–Orbit frame. The orbits of Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon are shown. Independent of season, the magnetic field of Umbriel (as well as Miranda and Ariel) is well shielded from external effects of the magnetosphere, making it a robust target for magnetic induction investigation of its interior (right) Fourier transform of the magnetic field of Uranus evaluated at the position of Umbriel. Note that although there are many beats and harmonics of the two fundamental frequencies, only the synodic is used here for characterization owing to its dominance over the other frequencies. -- Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci via PubMed

Ariel, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Europa, Exploration Gear & Tech, Ganymede, Ice Giant, Icy Worlds, Magnetic Fields, Electromagnetism, bioelectricity,, Miranda, Oberon, Status Report, Titania, Umbriel, Uranus, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Detecting Planetary Oceans: Application To The Uranus System

by Keith CowingDecember 8, 2024May 12, 2025

The discovery of Europa’s subsurface ocean has spawned a strong desire by the planetary community to return and assess the ocean’s habitability using the magnetic induction signal that Europa generates.

Ariel, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Ice Giant, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Miranda, Oberon, Press Release, Titania, Umbriel, Uranus, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Uranus’ Swaying Moons Will Help Spacecraft Seek Out Hidden Oceans

by Keith CowingNovember 29, 2024May 12, 2025

When NASA’s Voyager 2 flew by Uranus in 1986, it captured grainy photographs of large ice-covered moons. Now nearly 40 years later, NASA plans to send another spacecraft to Uranus, […]

Map of Miranda's southern hemisphere made using JMARS and a base map by P. M. Schenk (2013). The map is shown to give context to the regional maps of Arden Corona and Elsinore Corona in Figures 4 and 5. The map shows how Arden Corona and Elsinore Corona are on opposite hemispheres from each other and made up of concentric ridges. The upper mapped region represents Elsinore Corona. Elsinore Corona is divided between ropelike folded terrain in the south (ECFT), rugged ridged terrain in the northwest (ECRT) and a mixture of the two terrains to the northeast (ECMT). Ridges are positive relief grooves. Furrows are negative relief grooves. The lower region represents Arden Corona (AC). Arden Corona is made up of a series of furrows. Prominent impact basins are also mapped for geographic context. Elsinore Corona and Arden Corona are mapped in this figure because their analysis required higher-resolution imagery, but the cratered terrain and Inverness Corona are mapped only in Figure 3 because of lower-resolution requirements, since they were not the main focus of the study. Labels of each unit mapped are added to clarify colors because of transparency issues. -- The Planetary Science Journal

Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Miranda, Press Release, Uranus, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Is An Ocean Lurking Beneath Miranda?

by Keith CowingNovember 25, 2024November 25, 2024

Uranus’s moon Miranda might have once harbored an ocean beneath its surface, according to research published in the Planetary Science Journal. The work was led by graduate student Caleb Strom […]

Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Miranda, Press Release, Uranus, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Uranus’ Moon Miranda May Have An Ocean Beneath Its Surface

by Keith CowingOctober 30, 2024

A new study suggests Uranus’ moon Miranda may harbor a water ocean beneath its surface, a finding that would challenge many assumptions about the moon’s history and composition and could […]

Ariel, Ice Giant, Icy Worlds, Miranda, Oberon, Press Release, Titania, Umbriel, Uranus, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Ice Giant Systems Seminar Series: Are Uranus’ Large Moons Ocean Worlds? The Developing Spectroscopic Picture

by Keith CowingSeptember 9, 2024May 12, 2025

Date/Time: September 10, 11am ETSpeaker: Dr. Richard Cartwright (JHU/APL)Topic: Are Uranus’ Large Moons Ocean Worlds? The Developing Spectroscopic Picture

An artist’s impression of Uranus and its five largest moons (innermost to outermost) Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Mike Yakovlev

Ariel, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Miranda, Oberon, Status Report, Titania, Umbriel, Uranus

The Astrobiological Potential of the Uranian Moon System

by Keith CowingAugust 27, 2024August 27, 2024

The 2023-2032 Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey prioritized the Uranus Orbiter and Probe (UOP) mission concept as the next priority flagship mission. The UOP concept includes scientific studies of […]

JWST NIRCam albedos of Proteus and Puck compared to the spectra of 2004 EW95 (Plutino) and 2007 VL305 (Neptune Trojan) from JWST Programs 2418 and 2550 respectively. Also shown are Voyager-derived visual geometric albedos, with the Puck albedo selected to be at the same phase angle as the JWST observations (see Figure 6 of Karkoschka (2001) and Table 2 of Karkoschka (2003)). The spectrophotometry for Proteus and Puck closely matches the shape and albedo for the selected objects, both of which have less red/neutral spectral slopes, and perihelia also near 30AU. Higher resolution spectra for Puck and Proteus are needed to reveal surface composition. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Miranda, Neptune, Oberon, Status Report, Titania, Triton, Umbriel, Uranus

JWST Spectrophotometry of the Small Satellites of Uranus and Neptune

by Keith CowingApril 11, 2024April 11, 2024

We use 1.4-4.6 micron multi-band photometry of the small inner Uranian and Neptunian satellites obtained with the James Webb Space Telescope’s near-infrared imager NIRCam to characterize their surface compositions.