On January 2, the center of the planet was 147,098,290 kilometers from the center of the Sun, which thus appeared larger in the sky than at any other time of year.
The distance at perihelion is, however, only 5 million kilometers less than when the Earth is at aphelion, that is, at its greatest distance from its parent star. This is because the Earth's orbit is an almost perfect circle, unlike the orbits of Mars and Mercury, which have the greatest eccentricity, that is, they have a more pronounced "oval" shape.
At the next aphelion, which we will reach on July 5, the Sun will appear 3.4% smaller in the sky than on January 2 and the Earth will receive 6.9% less solar energy.
One would expect that temperatures on Earth would be higher at perihelion than at aphelion. This is indeed the case in the southern hemisphere, which is currently enjoying summer, but not in the northern hemisphere.
In fact, temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere are affected more by the tilt of the Earth's axis than by the planet's distance from the Sun. When we are at perihelion, the North Pole remains in darkness 24 hours a day, and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere receives sunlight at a large angle, which is why it has winter.
But certainly the winter in our hemisphere would be more severe if the Earth did not reach perihelion at this time.
This is also why winters in the Northern Hemisphere tend to be milder than in the Southern Hemisphere, which happens to experience the coldest time of year when the Earth is at its greatest distance from the Sun's heat.
DOL Newsroom
