Perihelion Sun
Explanation:
The Earth's orbit is not a perfect, sun-centered circle.
At
aphelion, the most distant
point in Earth's orbit, the Sun is
150 million kilometers away and
at
perihelion, the closest point, Earth
approaches the Sun to within about 147 million kilometers.
While aphelion occurs in July, perihelion
for planet Earth comes in January.
In fact, inhabitants of the Northern Hemisphere, particularly
those wearily weathering winter storms, may be surprised to learn that
Earth reached its closest point to the Sun on January 3rd
this year.
This
false-color picture recorded near perihelion is from
the earth-orbiting Yohkoh Solar Observatory.
It shows
an increasingly active Sun in
the light of X-rays.
A negative color scheme is used, darker colors representing
more intense X-ray light.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
