Which moon of Uranus did Voyager 2 reveal to have a heavily canyoned surface?

The story behind the answer

Miranda is the Uranian moon that Voyager 2 revealed to have a dramatically fractured, heavily canyoned surface. During its January 1986 flyby, the spacecraft photographed giant scarps, ridges, grooves, and patchwork regions that made Miranda look unlike the relatively small icy moon astronomers had expected.

Miranda is only about 500 kilometres across, yet its cliffs and fault canyons are immense compared with its size. Some of its canyons are described as many times deeper than the Grand Canyon. The most famous feature, Verona Rupes, is an enormous cliff associated with Miranda’s complex tectonic landscape.

Voyager 2’s images showed three large regions called coronae, marked by intersecting ridges and scarps and separated from older, more heavily cratered terrain. Scientists still debate how such a small body experienced so much geological disruption. The other answer choices are also Uranian moons, but Miranda is the one famous for its “Frankenstein-like” surface.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Aug. 2026

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