Why do days last forty-two Earth years on Uranus?
Uranus rotates on its axis on its side, so that one of its poles faces toward the sun throughout half of its eighty-four year orbit, while the other pole faces away. Once it passes behind the sun and begins the return leg journey, the other pole faces the sun for forty-two Earth years. At some point in its history, Uranus was probably struck by a large object that knocked it sideways. As a result, its equator lies on a plane perpendicular to the plane of the other planets’ orbits. In contrast to Uranus, the Earth is positioned nearly upright. Our equatorial plane lies almost parallel to the other plane of our orbit around the sun, so our entire planet experiences both night and day in every twenty-four hour period. Back to the top.
