Moon named 'Miranda' orbiting Uranus appears to have an ocean and possibly life

A distant moon circling the planet Uranus at the of the solar system may , a new study suggests.

Uranus’ moon Miranda, once thought to be a lifeless, frozen ball of ice, could actually be hiding vast oceans of liquid water, which according to recent research, could be home to extraterrestrial life. First discovered in 1781 by William Herschel, Uranus still holds many secrets, circling at the edge of the solar system more than 1.5 billion miles away.

The gas giant, which famously spins on its side, has at least 27 moons. But it was not until 1986 that humans got their first good look at Miranda when Voyager 2 beamed back the first close-up images.

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These first snaps captivated scientists, showing a riven with fissures and bizarre shapes, it looked like no other body in the solar system. And it was in studying why Miranda has this unique surface that scientists made their startling discovery, that it may in fact be hiding an even bigger secret.

A team of researchers revisited the Voyager 2 images and used modern computer modelling techniques to reconstruct Miranda’s past geology. “That result was a big surprise to the team,” said Caleb Strom, a graduate student at the University of North Dakota who worked on the project.

The computer models suggest that around 100 to 500 million years ago Miranda had an ocean which was at least 62 miles deep, trapped under a frozen crust of ice 19 miles thick. And their findings also suggest that the planet has not yet frozen solid, meaning there is still liquid water under the ice.

But what could be keeping Miranda warm enough to maintain liquid water all the way at the edge of the solar system more than a billion miles away from the sun? The answer lies in its relationship with its parent planet, Uranus. A complex phenomenon called orbital resonance, sees the gravity of Uranus push and squeeze the rock at Miranda’s core, causing friction and providing enough heat to melt the ice under the surface.

It is likely that Miranda’s ocean is thinner than the 62 miles researchers estimate it once was. “But the suggestion of an ocean inside one of the most distant moons in the solar system is remarkable,” said Strom in .

It is still too early to head off to Uranus to meet our new neighbours, more data is needed to confirm an ocean definitely exists under the ice, researchers say. Ultimately a new mission to Uranus needs to be launches to truly understand Miranda’s secrets. Until then scientists will continue to study the Voyager 2 images, trying to figure out if this tiny, insignificant ball of ice at the edge of our solar system could really be a home for alien life.