Cratering model for the mid-sized satellites of Uranus.

ROSSIGNOLI, N. L.; DI SISTO R.P.

Congreso; 12th Planetary Crater Consor- tium Meeting; 2021

The five mid-sized satellites of Uranus were last imaged up-close in 1986 by Voyager 2. Because of the orientation of the system at that time, only the moons? southern hemispheres were imaged withresolutions varying between 600 m on Miranda to 12 km on Oberon [1]. The impact crater distributions of the Uranian satellites obtained from these images were not unique, but varied among different authors (e. g. Strom [1] and Plescia [2]). Nevertheless, the crater counts did show at least two distinct crater populations of different ages [1]. While Oberon and Umbriel exhibit heavilycratered surfaces, Titania and Ariel appear to have undergone major endogenic resurfacing [2, 3]. Miranda on the contrary, displays a very complex geology, with its surface divided into heavily Cratered terrain and resurfaced areas associated with coronae. In the present work, we study the cratering rates in the Uranian satellites using a method previously applied to the Saturnian system [4?6]. We model the impact cratering process on Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon to explore their evolution and impactor population, comparing our results to the crater counts presented by Jeff Plescia and Robert Strom [1?3, 7].