Happy Aphelion! The heat is on with a high of 94 degrees, but did you know Earth is actually at its farthest from the Sun today [Friday, July 6]?
Today is the aphelion, the point in Earth's orbit farthest from the sun. But it is summer, right?
Yes. In fact, the Earth's tilt is what causes the different seasons not how close the earth is from the sun.
The Northern Hemisphere is experiencing summer because it is tilted toward the sun.
Aphelion happens at 12:46 pm EDT when the Earth is 94,507,803 miles away from the sun. Earth’s orbit is not a perfect circle so the distance from the sun varies through the year.
We'll be 3.1 million miles closer at perihelion on January 3, 2019, at 12:19 am EDT.