                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2026 February 9
    An unusual gray body looks like a more jaggged version of the Earth's
   moon, but close up. Craters and stripes run across much of the surface.
          Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

                              Miranda Revisited
      Image Credit: NASA, JPL, Voyager 2; Processing & License: Flickr:
   zelario12; Text: Keighley Rockcliffe (NASA GSFC, UMBC CSST, CRESST II)

   Explanation: What is Miranda really like? Visually, old images from
   NASA's Voyager 2 have been recently combined and remastered to result
   in the featured image of Uranus's 500-kilometer-wide moon. In the late
   1980s, Voyager 2 flew by Uranus, coming close to the cratered,
   fractured, and unusually grooved moon -- named after a character from
   Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Scientifically, planetary scientists are
   using old data and clear images to theorize anew about what shaped
   Miranda's severe surface features. A leading hypothesis is that
   Miranda, beneath its icy surface, may have once hosted an expansive
   liquid water ocean which may be slowly freezing. Thanks to the legacy
   of Voyager 2, Miranda has joined the ranks of Europa, Titan, and other
   icy moons in the search for water, and, possibly, microbial life, in
   our Solar System.

                  Jigsaw Moon: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
                      Tomorrow's picture: swirling sky
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
                  NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

