Ocean earthly concern , such asEuropaaround Jupiter andEnceladusaround Saturn , are recent and fascinating discovery . These moons cover , far beneath their icy crusts , a deep melted ocean . Other moons and gnome planets also hide liquid oceans underneath , and the late campaigner is Miranda – the smallest of Uranus ’s five round moons .

Miranda might be the smallest rotund object in the Solar System . It has a diameter of just 470 kilometer ( 290 miles ) . Its surface area is just about the area of Texas . Still , it is a complex world . Its surface is among the most uttermost we have observed anywhere and features the tallest cliff in the Solar System : Verona Rupes , which has a drop of about 20 klick ( 12 miles ) . An equivalent cliff on Earth would have to be over 270 kilometers marvelous .

It was these and many other interesting features that suggest the presence of an ocean . Once the control surface social organisation are plugged into computer models , the enigmatical geology is best matched by the presence of a vast sea that formed between 100 and 500 million years ago .

" To find evidence of an ocean inside a little object like Miranda is incredibly surprising , " carbon monoxide - writer Tom Nordheim , from Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory ( APL ) , sound out in astatement . " It helps build on the story that some of these moons at Uranus may be really interesting – that there may be several ocean humankind around one of the most distant planet in our Solar System , which is both exciting and bizarre . "

The sea would be at least 100 kilometers ( 62 miles deep ) under a incrustation of no more than 30 km ( 19 miles ) . Given the small size of it of the lunation , the ocean would occupy half of its total volume .

The squad believed it form due to a gravitational resonance with another moon , slosh Miranda until its Interior Department got warm enough to liquidise . The cosmic dance is not over , but the sea has not totally frozen over . If it had , there would be cracks on the airfoil : water supply Methedrine has a enceinte intensity than liquid water . If Miranda has a really liquid ocean , it would be really remarkable .

That alone would guarantee a delegacy there , aswe discussedwith Professor Brian Cox a few calendar week back . There is so much more to the ice giants , Uranus and Neptune , that we do not know .

The written report is published inThe Planetary Science Journal .