Editing Miranda (moon) (section)

== Observation and exploration ==
[[File:ESO-Uranus-Moons.jpg|thumb|Miranda, Uranus, and its other moons photographed by the [[Cerro Paranal Observatory]].]]
Miranda's apparent magnitude is +16.6, making it invisible to many amateur telescopes.{{sfn|Scobel|2005}} Virtually all known information regarding its geology and geography was obtained during the [[List of planetary flybys|flyby]] of Uranus made by ''Voyager 2'' on 25 January 1986,<ref name=Burgess>{{cite book|title=Uranus and Neptune: The Distant Giants|url=https://archive.org/details/uranusneptunedis0000burg|url-access=registration|author=E. Burgess|publisher= Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0231064927|year=1988}}</ref> The closest approach of ''Voyager 2'' to Miranda was {{cvt|29000|km}}—significantly less than the distances to all other Uranian moons.<ref name="Stone 1987">{{cite journal| doi = 10.1029/JA092iA13p14873| last = Stone| first = E. C.| date = December 30, 1987| title = The Voyager 2 Encounter with Uranus| journal = Journal of Geophysical Research | volume = 92| issue = A13| pages = 14,873–14,876| bibcode = 1987JGR....9214873S| url = https://authors.library.caltech.edu/44149/1/jgra8696.pdf}}</ref> Of all the Uranian satellites, Miranda had the most visible surface.<ref name=miner>{{cite book|title=Uranus|editor=Jay T. Bergstralh |editor2=Ellis D. Miner |editor3=Mildred Shapley Matthews |year=1990 |publisher=University of Arizona Press|chapter=Physical Properties of the Uranian Satellites|author=R. H. Brown|pages=513–528|isbn=978-0816512089}}</ref> The discovery team had expected Miranda to resemble Mimas, and found themselves at a loss to explain the moon's unique geography in the 24-hour window before releasing the images to the press.<ref name=Miner309>Miner, 1990, pp. 309-319</ref> In 2017, as part of its [[Planetary Science Decadal Survey]], [[NASA]] evaluated the possibility of an orbiter to return to Uranus some time in the 2020s.<ref>[http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/download-detail.cfm?DL_ID=742 Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013–2022] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120902004050/http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/download-detail.cfm?DL_ID=742 |date=2012-09-02 }}</ref> Uranus was the preferred destination over Neptune due to favourable planetary alignments meaning shorter flight times.<ref name="Plan Soc 2017">[http://www.planetary.org/blogs/jason-davis/2017/20170621-revisiting-ice-giants.html Revisiting the ice giants: NASA study considers Uranus and Neptune missions]. Jason Davis. ''The Planetary Society''. 21 June 2017.</ref>