Question

"At the moment when the Voyager spacecraft got closest to Uranus, the Sun was shining directly on the planet's south pole. Uranus takes about 17 hours to rotate once on its axis. If Voyager took a photo of the south pole 8.5 hours later, what would it observe?"

a) the south pole was in darkness

b) the south pole was brightly lit, with the Sun shining down on it

c) the south pole was in twilight

d) the south pole was facing directly away from the Sun

e) more than one of the above

Answer 1

b) the south pole was brightly lit, with the Sun shining down on it

Step-by-step explanation:

If it takes 17hrs for a complete rotation about its axis, the that means it rotates 360/17 = 21.2 degrees per hour.

In 18 hours it would have rotated

18 x 21.2 = 381.6 degrees,

This is an additional

381.6 - 360 = 21.6 degrees

Which is just roughly a little beyond a 1hr difference. Hence, the south pole will still be brightly lit with the sun shinning down on it.