Miranda

Source: NASA

Welcome to the Uranian System, this is MIRANDA!!!  For a moon with such a normal name, it sure is one of the wackiest.

In case you’re curious, “where the frick do these names come from??” I have the answer for you.  Every system is different, but Uranus’ in particular are named after a few Shakespeare plays.  “Miranda” comes from the daughter of Prospero, who is a character in the play “The Tempest.”  Cool, right?  This one is SMALL- 500 km small.  If that is just a number to you (as it was to me), here is something to wrestle with: take a pin and drop it on Atlanta.  Now, stretch a radius that expands outward to touch AL, MS, FL, SC, NC, TN, VA, WV, and KY. What in the actual world!!! With almost no gravity and a landscape that looks shaken up, stirred, kicked, etc., this moon is just hanging in the sky. There are a few probable explanations for Miranda’s wonky surface: one is that there was a giant collision that rocked the crap out of the tiny satellite, leaving it haphazardly in the state it currently is in.  Another is that due to meteor strikes to its icy surface, the moon suffered from some melting that dismembered its topography.  Either way, I love what Miranda is referred to: Frankenstein’s moon.  It’s all pieced together, however it happened.  I think of it as a puzzle-landscape that was excitedly and quickly assembled incorrectly by a toddler.  I must admit, it was hard finding photos to support Miranda’s personality, which just made it all the more the quilted-challenge.  As a disclaimer, I put in all my effort to find scientifically sound photos of the moons I paint to correctly portray them for what they actually are.  This has been the first moon where the photo I had to work with was pieced together (by NASA) and I had to creatively imagine the details.  What!!! Honestly, it was hard. I had to walk away. I was so frustrated and convinced I had painted the bum of the solar system when BAM the inspiration smoked me out of nowhere and I picked up the paint brush.  I made a choice to push through and tough it out- kind of like how this moon has done in its existence.  These moments aren’t coincidence, I’m convinced.  I can step back and look at Miranda with confidence.  No work of art is ever “finished” but sometimes you have to let your mind fill in the space and meditate on your work, it’ll come to you.  That is not a promise- I’m still sitting on pieces to this day.  BUT (the big but of them all, hah) I’m so faithful that everything comes full circle.  It did for this itty bitty moon and I’m so thankful to have had my butt kicked by it.  No pun intended, thanks Uranus.