When Is Earth Closest To The Sun

The Winter Surprise: When Earth is Closest to the Sun If you’re currently shivering through a Northern Hemisphere winter, you might find it hard to believe that Earth is actually closest to the sun right now.

Earth’s orbit is an ellipse with a very low eccentricity (about 0.0167). That means it’s nearly circular, but not perfectly so. As a result, the sun is not at the exact center of this ellipse; it sits at one of the two focal points. when is earth closest to the sun

6% more solar radiation

That’s a difference of roughly 3 million miles (4.8 million km). In cosmic terms, that’s not huge—but it is significant. At perihelion, Earth receives about than it does at aphelion. The Winter Surprise: When Earth is Closest to

6. Observable Effects (Yes, You Can Notice Some)

Aphelion

occurs in early July (July 4–6 typically). Distance: ~152.1 million km (94.5 million miles). At aphelion, the Sun appears slightly smaller, and Earth moves slower (~29.3 km/s). As a result, the sun is not at

We often imagine Earth’s orbit as a perfect circle, but it is actually a slightly squashed oval, or an