![]() The tilt changes the angle of sunlight falling on your part of Earth. The day of maximum tilt toward or away from the sun is the December or June solstice. In summer, your part of Earth is tilted toward the sun. In winter, your part of Earth is tilted away from the sun. Instead, the tilt of our world’s axis with respect to our orbit causes seasons. And it’s not our distance from the sun that creates winter and summer on Earth. A unique and beautiful poster-sized calendar showing phases of the moon every night of the year! Makes a great gift. So, Earth is closest to the sun every year in early January, when it’s winter for the Northern Hemisphere.Īnd we’re farthest away from the sun in early July, during our Northern Hemisphere summer.Ĭlearly, Earth’s distance from the sun isn’t the cause of the seasons.Īvailable now! 2023 EarthSky lunar calendar. NASA Earth Fact Sheet with precise perihelion and aphelion distances. That’s in contrast to our average distance of about 93 million miles (150 million km). ![]() In early January, we’re about 3% closer to the sun – roughly 3 million miles (5 million km) – than we are during Earth’s aphelion (farthest point) in early July. This closest Earth-sun distance is called perihelion, from the Greek roots peri meaning near and helios meaning sun. CST) on January 4 … This is the morning in North America. For 2023, our closest point comes at 16 UTC (10 a.m. So, it makes sense that Earth has closest and farthest points from the sun each year. ![]() Instead, it’s an ellipse, like a circle someone sat down on. Earth at perihelion in JanuaryĮarth’s orbit around the sun isn’t a circle. Please note that the relative diameters of the sun and Earth are not to scale. But – for Earth – the difference in distance isn’t much. Earth is closest to the sun at perihelion and farthest at aphelion.
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