[X] My Assistant

[MarcF]

By making order in some of my old documents about the Voyager 2 mission, I got a look on the 20 years old Miranda pictures and I realized how similar Miranda and Enceladus really are.
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA01490.jpg

Both have about the same size, the same density (same composition ?). And the surfaces are amazingly similar too (even if Miranda's one seems in general older). Both might be in resonance with another moon, Ariel and Dione respectively (we could even expand the similarities to these two moons).
Miranda and Enceladus surfaces comprise corona-like structures surounded by older cratered terrains. In both cases, one is exactly localized at the south pole (self-rolling to place this area of low density at the south pole is suspected in both cases).
The most striking similar features seem to be Elsinor corona on Miranda and the corona-like structure on Enceladus localized between about 120 and 150 west.
These two worlds may share a common geological story. The origin of the Miranda features is still not really understood nowadays. So the current studies of Enceladus might also help to better understand Miranda (and vice versa).
Does someone know if serious comparative studies exist (or are on the way) ? I did not find any yet.
Marc.

[tasp]

The sphereicity of Miranda and Enceladus are quite different. To me it suggests vastly different interior stucture, Enceladus being liquidy up to quite close to the surface, and Miranda being cold and rigid to great depths.

{not to rule out amorphous affects of icy materials under stress at Miranda}