M iranda was named after the daughter of the magician Prospero in Shakespeare's play The Tempest. It was discovered by Gerard Kuiper in 1948. Miranda is not one of the larger satellites of Uranus; however, it was the one that was approached the closest by Voyager 2. This was not the satellite scientists would have chosen to get close to if they had a choice, but they had no choice. Voyager 2 had to fly close to the planet in order to get the boost it needed to go to Neptune. The resolution at which the larger satellites were photographed was around 2 to 3 kilometers (1.2 to 1.9 miles). On the other hand, details on the order of a few hundred meters can be seen on Miranda. Fortunately, Miranda turned out to be the most remarkable of all the satellites.

M iranda's surface is unlike anything in the solar system with features that are jumbled together in a haphazard fashion. Miranda consists of huge fault canyons as deep as 20 kilometers (12 miles), terraced layers and a mixture of old and young surfaces. The younger regions might have been produced by incomplete differentiation of the moon, a process in which upwelling of lighter material surfaced in limited areas. Alternatively, scientists believe that Miranda may have been shattered as many as five times during its evolution. After each shattering the moon would have reassembled from the remains of its former self with portions of the core exposed and portions of the surface buried. Miranda's appearence can be explained by theories, but the real reason is still unknown.

G iven Miranda's small size and low temperature (-187° C or -335° F), the degree and diversity of the tectonic activity on this moon has surprised scientists. It is believed that an additional heat source such as tidal heating caused by the gravitational tug of Uranus must have been involved. In addition, some means must have mobilized the flow of icy material at low temperatures.