Scientists Stunned To Discover Signs Of Possible Alien Life Inside Uranus’ Moon

Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun, which was viewed up close by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986, has been the focus of more than a few studies over the last few decades. One of the more recent studies included planetary scientists clearing up a perplexing problem surrounding the planet’s weaker-than-anticipated radiation belts. Now, a group of researchers from Johns Hopkins University say one of the distant planet’s moons may have the potential for sustaining life, challenging prior beliefs about the icy moon.

“To find evidence of an ocean inside a small object like Miranda is incredibly surprising,” remarked Tom Nordheim, a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland.

Miranda is just one of 28 known moons of Uranus, with most being named after characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. Out of Uranus’ large moons, Miranda is the smallest at about 290 miles in diameter, or about one-seventh the size of Earth’s moon. It has been thought the moon was mainly composed of water ice mixed with rock, like most of Uranus’ other moons. However, the new research suggests Miranda may be hiding an ocean of liquid water beneath its surface.

Researchers involved with the recent study decided to take another look at the Voyager 2 images and attempt to work backward. The team mapped Miranda’s surface features and then used computer models to try and match the stress patterns to the moon. The results came as a shock to them.

What the team found was the best match also required a vast ocean to exist beneath the surface of Miranda. It would have to be only 19 miles beneath the icy moon’s crust, and the ocean itself would have to be at least 62 miles deep. The fact the moon itself is only 292 miles across would mean the ocean beneath would take up much of the moon’s interior.

Miranda is not alone in the solar system in terms of moons that might harbor water beneath its surface. In fact, NASA launched its Europa Clipper mission earlier this year to study Jupiter’s icy moon of the same name, Europa. The spacecraft will travel 1.8 billion miles over a six-year period to reach the icy moon, and then focus on trying to uncover more about the mysterious global ocean believed to exist beneath its surface.

Perhaps in the future NASA, or another space agency, will send another spacecraft to study Miranda in greater depth. As Nordheim remarked, “We won’t know for sure that it even has an ocean until we go back and collect more data. We’re squeezing the last bit of science we can from Voyager 2’s images.” He concluded, “For now, we’re excited by the possibilities and eager to return to study Uranus and its potential ocean moons in depth.”