The Planet Mercury Travels in an Elliptical Orbit with Eccentricity $0.403$

Multiple Choice

The planet Mercury travels in an elliptical orbit with eccentricity $0.403$ . Its minimum distance from the Sun is $6.9 \times 10 ^ { 7 }$ km. If the perihelion distance from a planet to the Sun is $a ( 1 - e )$ and the aphelion distance is $a ( 1 + e )$ , find the maximum distance (in km) from Mercury to the Sun.

A) $11.6 \times 10 ^ { 7 }$ km
B) $18.3 \times 10 ^ { 7 }$ km
C) $20.3 \times 10 ^ { 7 }$ km
D) $16.2 \times 10 ^ { 7 }$ km
E) $0.8 \times 10 ^ { 7 }$ km