orbit

January 1, 2022

Happy New Year and Perihelion 2022 – A close swing by the Sun

On January 4, 2022, at 1:52 a.m. EST (6:52 UTC), Earth's orbit will be at our closest point to the Sun for the year.
July 3, 2020

Welcome to Aphelion 2020: Farthest point from the Sun!

Happy Aphelion 2020! July is summer in the northern hemisphere and you might think this means we are closer to the Sun. This is a common misconception. Earth is actually farther from the Sun in July and on July 4th […]
June 19, 2020

Fun with the Sun June 20 -21: The Solstice and an Annular Solar Eclipse

The weekend of June 20 – 21, 2020 has a lot going on when it comes to the Sun. We get to enjoy two exciting events thanks to the orbital dance between Earth and the Moon as the move together […]
January 5, 2020

Happy Perihelion 2020!

All of us on Earth and in orbit reached our closest point to the Sun, January 5 at 2:48 EST or 7:48 Universal Time (UT). This point of closest approach to the Sun is called perihelion. The point when Earth […]
July 6, 2015

Happy Aphelion 2015!

Earth reached its farthest point from the sun July 6 at 3:41 p.m. EDT or July 6 at 19:41 in Universal Time (UT). This is called aphelion. The distance from the Sun’s center to Earth’s center will be 152,093,481 kilometers or 94,506,507 miles. The […]
January 5, 2015

Welcome to Perihelion 2015!

Earth reached its closest point from the sun, January 4, at 1:36am EDT or January 4 at 6:36am in Universal Time (UT). This is called perihelion. The point of closest approach is called perihelion. These terms are specific to a […]
July 5, 2014

Welcome to Aphelion 2014!

Earth reaches its furthest point from the sun, July 3, at 8pm EDT or July 4 at 1am in Universal Time (UT). This is called aphelion. The point of closest approach is called perihelion. These terms are specific to a […]