Miranda

A patchwork moon of coronae and cliffs — the innermost and most dramatic of Uranus's five major satellites.

Orbits Uranus

About Miranda

Miranda is the innermost of Uranus’s five major moons and the smallest. Despite its size — barely 472 km across — it has one of the most bizarre surfaces in the Solar System. Three large oval “coronae” (Arden, Elsinore, Inverness), each ~200-300 km across, disrupt a heavily cratered terrain. Verona Rupes, a cliff with a ~20 km vertical drop, may be the tallest cliff anywhere known. Miranda’s appearance led to speculation that it had been shattered by an impact and then re-accreted; more recent modeling favors partial differentiation driven by ancient tidal heating.

Live · 3DSee Miranda in the Live 3D Solar SystemFly to Miranda and explore its orbit among the planets, moons & spacecraft in a full-screen interactive view.Launch 3D view

Physical Properties

Mean radius236 km

Mass6.4e19 kg

Density1.2 g/cm³

Surface gravity0.079 m/s²

Rotation period33.92 h

Bond albedo0.32

Mean temp60 K

Orbit

OrbitsUranus

Semi-major axis129,390 km

Eccentricity0.0013

Inclination4.232°

Orbital period1.413479 d

Gallery

Hand-picked mission imagery of Miranda sourced from NASA and partner archives. Click any photo for full resolution and source attribution.

Uranus's moon Miranda and its chaotic terrain, from Voyager 2. NASA/JPL-Caltech · Public Domain u2014 NASA Media Usage Guidelines

South polar view of Miranda from Voyager 2. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Imagery on this page is provided by the original mission teams. Full attribution terms: Image Rights & Credits.

Sources & Further Reading

Numerical values (radius, mass, orbital elements, temperatures) are drawn from NASA NSSDC Planetary Fact Sheets, JPL Horizons, and the JPL Small-Body Database. Last refreshed: 2026-06-08 01:37:02.