Earth closest to sun on January 2-3

Tonight– January 2, 2018– we reach Earth’s closest indicate the sun for this whole year at 11:35 p.m. CST (central U.S.). It’ll be the morning of January 3 for Europe and Africa … later in the day January 3 for the remainder of the world (January 3 at 5:35 UTC; equate to your time zone ). Astronomers call this unique point in our orbit perihelion, from the Greek roots peri indicating near and helios suggesting sun. On January 3, 2018, Earth at its closest point swings to within 91,401,983 miles (147,097,233 km )of the sun. That’s in contrast to six months from now, when the Earth reaches aphelion— its most distant point– on July 6, 2018. We’ll be 94,507,803 miles (152,095,566 km) from the sun.

In other words, Earth is about 3 million miles (5 million km) closer to the sun in early January than it remains in early July. That’s constantly the case. Earth is closest to the sun every year in early January, when it’s winter for the Northern Hemisphere.

We’re farthest away from the sun in early July, throughout our Northern Hemisphere summertime.

You see there’s not a substantial distance difference between perihelion and aphelion. Earth’s orbit is very nearly circular. Therefore it’s not our distance from the sun– however instead the tilt of our world’s axis– that creates winter season and summer season on Earth.

In winter season, your part of Earth is slanted away from the sun. In summer, your part of Earth is tilted towards the sun. The day of maximum tilt toward or far from the sun is the December or June solstice.

Not accountable for the seasons, Earth’s closest and farthest points to the sun do affect seasonal lengths. When the Earth comes closest to the sun for the year, as around now, our world is moving fastest in orbit around the sun. Earth is rushing along now at practically 19 miles per second (30.3 km/sec)– moving about a kilometer per 2nd faster than when Earth is farthest from the sun in early July. Hence the Northern Hemisphere winter season and– at the same time– Southern Hemisphere summer season are the shortest seasons as Earth hurries from the solstice in December to the equinox in March.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer season (June solstice to September equinox) lasts nearly 5 days longer than our winter. And, obviously, the corresponding seasons in the Southern Hemisphere are opposite. Southern Hemisphere winter is nearly 5 days longer than Southern Hemisphere summertime.

It’s all due to the shape of Earth’s orbit. The shape is an, like a circle somebody sat down on and compressed. The elliptical shape of Earth’s orbit causes the variation in the length of the seasons– and brings us closest to the sun in January.

Image Credit: Dna-webmaster

Bottom line: In 2018, Earth’s closest point to the sun– called its perihelion— comes on January 3 at 5:35 Universal Time (on January 2 at 11:35 p.m. CST).

Bruce McClure has actually served as lead author for EarthSky’s popular Tonight pages because 2004. He’s a sundial connoisseur, whose love for the heavens has actually taken him to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia and sailing in the North Atlantic, where he made his celestial navigation certificate through the School of Ocean Sailing and Navigation. He also composes and hosts public astronomy programs and planetarium programs in and around his home in upstate New york city.

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