Earth will reach its furthest distance from the sun on Thursday known as Aphelion. NASA Ambassador Tony Rice explains what this means.
While Northern Hemisphere residents endure the July heat and Southern Hemisphere residents experience the dead of winter, the entire planet is at its farthest point from the sun today.
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On Monday, July 6, the Earth officially reaches its yearly milestone known as aphelion.
Perihelion and aphelion earth position rotating around sun outline diagram. Labeled educational planet distance from star as universe process and seasons phenomena explanation vector illustration.
(Getty Images / VectorMine)
According to EarthSky, our planet will be exactly 94,502,961 miles from the sun at 12:30 p.m. CDT.
Despite the timing, Earth’s distance from the sun does not determine the seasons, as recent heat waves across Europe and the eastern United States have shown.
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So why is it that the Northern Hemisphere still sizzles during summer when the sun and Earth are farthest away, versus winter when it’s the closest?
Planet Earth and sunrise. Elements of this image furnished by NASA
(NexTser / Getty Images)
If distance was the determining factor, the entire planet would be locked in winter during July, while both hemispheres would bake in a global summer during January. Instead, the opposite happens: the hemispheres experience completely opposite seasons.
According to EarthSky, Earth’s orbit is “almost, but not quite, circular,” meaning its distance from the sun changes only slightly — “a little over 3%.”
It’s the Earth’s tilt on its axis that produces the seasons.
The tilt of the Earth’s axis of seasons is the result from the Earth’s axis of rotation being tilted with respect to its orbital plane. the northern and southern hemispheres always experience opposite seasons. One part of the planet is more directly exposed to the rays of the Sun.
(ttsz / Getty Images)
Right now it’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere because the northern part of Earth is tilted toward the sun. Meanwhile, the Southern Hemisphere is tilted away, EarthSky said.
