During its flyby of Uranus, Voyager 2 spent many days imaging the planet, but it was able to photograph only the southern hemisphere of Uranus. Why was this?
A)Uranus's rotation period was such that it kept the same face, the southern hemisphere, facing Voyager 2 for the whole encounter.
B)Because of Uranus's extreme axis tilt and the planet's position in its orbit, the northern hemisphere was pointed away from the Sun during the Voyager 2 passage and was therefore in darkness for the whole time.
C)The very long rotation period of Uranus meant that Voyager 2 was not able to observe the planet for more than part of a rotation.
D)Voyager 2 passed by the side of the planet that contained the southern hemisphere, and Uranus's extreme axis tilt meant that planet rotation would never bring the other hemisphere into view.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Uranus has an extreme axis tilt, which means that its pole is almost pointed towards the Sun. Thus, during Voyager 2's pass of Uranus, the northern hemisphere was pointed away from the Sun and was in darkness for the entire encounter. Therefore, Voyager 2 was only able to photograph the southern hemisphere of Uranus.

During Its Flyby of Uranus, Voyager 2 Spent Many Days