Flying by in early 1986, Voyager 2 captured the pictures for this image mosaic of Miranda, which enabled scientists to study this moon of Uranus in much greater detail than ever before. First observed in 1948 by Gerard Peter Kuiper, Miranda is named for the daughter of the wily Prospero in Shakespeare's "The Tempest." It was the fifth satellite of Uranus to be discovered, and is the planet's innermost large moon. It was necessary for Voyager 2 to pass by Miranda, not for scientific reasons, but simply to obtain the gravity assist it needed from Uranus to go on to Neptune. Before Voyager, Miranda was largely ignored as it is not the largest moon and did not seem to have any other outstanding qualities. Fortunately, however, Voyager passed close enough to Miranda to provide scientists with fascinating photographs that captivated astronomers. About half ice and half rock, Miranda's surface has terraced layers and other features that indicate both older and younger surfaces coexist. Scientists have proposed two explanations for the the mixing of ancient and recent surfaces. One theory is that Miranda could have been shattered and then reassembled as many as five times. Another hypothesis is that upwellings of partly melted ice created new surfaces.
NASA
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