Miranda is the Uranian satellite that was approached the closest by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, revealing details on the order of a few hundred meters. It is a small moon, diameter 470 km, but its surface is remarkable. Miranda consists of huge canyons as deep as 20 kilometers (12 miles), and a mixture of old and young surfaces. Some scientists believe that Miranda was shattered and reassembled up to five times. Most likely, this satellite is subjected to tidal heating from Uranus, aiding the flow of the icy surface materials.

This image is centered at the south pole. Miranda's surface consists of two major strikingly different types of terrain. One is an old, heavily cratered, rolling terrain; the other is a young, complex terrain characterized by sets of bright and dark bands and ridges.

This computer-assembled high-resolution mosaic of Miranda is made from frames obtained by Voyager 2 during its close flyby. The images were obtained from distances of 30,160 to 40,310 kilometers; resolution ranges from 560 to 740 meters. These are among the highest-resolution pictures that Voyager has obtained of any of the new 'worlds' it has encountered during its mission. Some of these show very large cliffs, up to 5 kilometers in height -- that is, higher that the walls of the Grand Canyon on Earth.

This high-resolution image of Miranda was taken on January 24, 1986, when Voyager 2 was 36,250 kilometers (22,500 miles) away. You can see numerous ridges and valleys, cut by many faults. The largest fault scarp, or cliff, is seen below and right of center. The fault may be 5 kilometers (3 miles) high -- higher than the Grand Canyon. (Images by NASA/JPL)