A recent study made surprising revelation about Uranus’s moon Miranda, located in the far reaches of our solar system.
As per several reports, this might contain a hidden ocean beneath its icy surface possibily creating chance for extraterrestrial life.
Tom Nordheim, a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (JHAPL), is the person behind this mind blowing discovery.
“To find evidence of an ocean inside a small object like Miranda is incredibly surprising,” said Nordheim.
Miranda is the smallest and innermost of Uranus's five round satellites. It was discovered by Gerard Kuiper on 16 February 1948 at McDonald Observatory in Texas.
It was named after Miranda from William Shakespeare's play The Tempest.
Another interesting aspect is Uranus’s atmosphere, which is rich in icy materials like water, ammonia, and methane.
That methane is what gives the planet its signature blue-green color.
Their findings suggest that approximately 100 to 500 million years ago, Miranda likely contained a subsurface ocean, that was at least 62 miles deep, which is covered by an icy crust no thicker than 90 miles.
Researchers said that result was a big surprise to the team. The thought that a moon as small as Miranda could contain such a large ocean is not something scientists expected.
Uranus still holds many secrets, and researchers are eager to explore it further to understand more about these distant, icy worlds.
