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The six Earth images are positions along the orbital ellipse, which are sequentially the perihelion (periapsis—nearest point to the Sun) on anywhere from January 2 to January 5, the point of March equinox on March 19, 20, or 21, the point of June solstice on June 20, 21, or 22, the aphelion (apoapsis—the farthest point from the Sun) on ...
The aphelion distance between the Earth's and Sun's centers is currently about 1.016 71 AU or 152,097,700 km (94,509,100 mi). The dates of perihelion and aphelion change over time due to precession and other orbital factors, which follow cyclical patterns known as Milankovitch cycles.
The astronomical unit (symbol: au[1][2][3][4] or AU) is a unit of length defined to be exactly equal to 149,597,870,700 m. [5] Historically, the astronomical unit was conceived as the average Earth-Sun distance (the average of Earth's aphelion and perihelion), before its modern redefinition in 2012. The astronomical unit is used primarily for ...
That moment, called aphelion, will occur when the distance between the two celestial bodies stretches to more than 94.5 million miles. At perihelion, Earth is roughly 91.4 million miles away from ...
Moon · Earth. In celestial mechanics, apsidal precession (or apsidal advance) [1] is the precession (gradual rotation) of the line connecting the apsides (line of apsides) of an astronomical body 's orbit. The apsides are the orbital points farthest (apoapsis) and closest (periapsis) from its primary body. The apsidal precession is the first ...
At θ = 0°, perihelion, the distance is minimum = + At θ = 90° and at θ = 270° the distance is equal to . At θ = 180°, aphelion, the distance is maximum (by definition, aphelion is – invariably – perihelion plus 180°)
For Earth's current orbital eccentricity, incoming solar radiation varies by about 6.8%, while the distance from the Sun currently varies by only 3.4% (5.1 million km or 3.2 million mi or 0.034 au). [9] Perihelion presently occurs around 3 January, while aphelion is around 4 July.
An object with an e of 0 has a perfectly circular orbit, with its perihelion distance being just as close to the Sun as its aphelion distance. An object with an e of between 0 and 1 will have an elliptical orbit, with, for instance, an object with an e of 0.5 having a perihelion twice as close to the Sun as its aphelion.