Putting the planets where they are tonight…

Every planet, moon, dwarf planet and spacecraft here is drawn where it really is right now, worked out from NASA JPL orbit data. Run time forwards or backwards with the bar at the bottom.

The Sun and planets

  • Sun
  • Mercury
  • Venus
  • Earth
  • Mars
  • Jupiter
  • Saturn
  • Uranus
  • Neptune

Dwarf planets

  • Ceres
  • Pluto
  • Haumea
  • Makemake
  • Eris

Moons

  • Moon
  • Phobos
  • Deimos
  • Io
  • Europa
  • Ganymede
  • Callisto
  • Mimas
  • Enceladus
  • Tethys
  • Dione
  • Rhea
  • Titan
  • Iapetus
  • Miranda
  • Ariel
  • Umbriel
  • Titania
  • Oberon
  • Triton
  • Charon

Belts

  • Asteroid Belt
  • Kuiper Belt

Spacecraft

  • Voyager 1
  • Voyager 2
  • New Horizons
  • Pioneer 10
  • Pioneer 11

Fall inside

  • Inside the Sun
  • Inside Mercury
  • Inside Venus
  • Inside Earth
  • Inside Mars
  • Inside Jupiter
  • Inside Saturn
  • Inside Uranus
  • Inside Neptune
  • Inside the Moon
  • Inside Europa
  • Inside Titan
Right now · live
A moon of Uranus ↑

Miranda

A patchwork moon with the tallest cliff we know.

Miranda looks as if it was broken apart and stuck back together. Its surface is a patchwork of grooves, ridges and old craters.

It has the tallest cliff we know of anywhere: Verona Rupes, about 20 km high.

Drop a rock off the top, and in Miranda's weak gravity it would take about 12 minutes to reach the bottom.

Everything we know comes from one visit: Voyager 2, in January 1986.

Uranus's moons are named after characters from Shakespeare and the poet Alexander Pope. Miranda is the young heroine of The Tempest.

If you stood here

Standing at the edge of Verona Rupes, you'd look down a cliff more than twice as tall as Everest.

The numbers

Width
472 km
Goes round Uranus
every 34 hours
One day
The same: it always shows Uranus one face
Temperature
about −190 °C
70 kg on Earth weighs
564 grams here
Quick answers+

How big is Miranda?

Miranda is 472 km wide, about 4% of Earth's width.

How long does Miranda take to go round Uranus?

Miranda goes once round Uranus every 34 hours. It spins once in the same time, so it always shows Uranus the same face.

How hot or cold is Miranda?

About −190 °C.

What is the gravity like on Miranda?

Gravity is 0.079 m/s², less than 1% of Earth's. Someone who weighs 70 kg on Earth would weigh 564 grams there.