Why on July 6, the Earth will move more slowly by 3,600 km / h

This Friday, July 6 we will be at our furthest point from


Sun
in 2018.

That day, the Earth will cross what is called aphelion, a Greek word meaning "far from the sun".

"The aphelion is the point of the Earth's orbit around the Sun.the Earth is farthest from our star and the perihelion (near the Sun) is only the point opposite, that is the point of Earth's orbit where the Earth is closer to the Sun. Nayra Rodríguez Eugenio, astrophysicist and disseminator of the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canaries [19659007] "In perihelion, the Sun is about 147 million km from the Earth, and when it is in the aphelion, it is about 152 million km from the Sun. "

The distance varies because the orbit of the Earth around the Sun is not a perfect but elliptical circumference.

The greater distance results in a lower velocity.

As the second Kepler's law, when pla nets are close to the Sun in their orbiting movement faster than when they are farther away.

The greater distance in the aphelion means that the speed of orbital translation will be less than 103,536 km / h, or about 3,600 km / h speed in perihelion. *

In the aphelion, "the Earth is a little further, 5 million kilometers farther from the Sun "than in perihelion.

The aphelion takes place every year between the 2nd and the 7th of July. Perihelion took place this year on January 3rd.

The largest distance between the Earth and the Sun will be recorded on July 6 at 17:46 GMT, while the planet and its star are at 152,095,566 km.

Stations

The greater or lesser distance to the sun during aphelion or perihelion does not correspond to temperature variations during the seasons.

"The seasons are produced by tilting the axis of rotation of the Earth relative to the plane that describes around the Sun, which is what we call the ecliptic," he said. Rodriguez Eugenio.

"This axis is tilted about 23.5 degrees and so when we are in the northern hemisphere summer, the north axis, ie the north pole of the Earth, is pointing more towards the direction of the Sun. "

" On the other hand in winter, our north pole points as in the opposite direction, it is not exactly opposite since they are about 23.5 degrees, but it points on the sun side. "

More water in the southern hemisphere

The summer of the northern hemisphere coincides with the aphelion, "but we receive more solar radiation here in the northern hemisphere as the sun is higher above the north. Horizon and we also have more hours of sunshine, "explains astrophysics. In the southern hemisphere, on the other hand, summer coincides with perihelion.

"This could make us think that in the southern hemisphere the temperature rises more than north in summer, because apart from tilting, the Earth also is closer to the sun," explains Rodríguez Eugenio

But this is not the case

What happens is that "in the southern hemisphere there is more water and that means that the temperature n & # 39; It does not increase much. ] "This seems to be due to the fact that the earth warms up much more easily than water and, because the southern hemisphere has a greater proportion of its surface covered with water, the water is more easily absorbed. excess energy is absorbed by it. "

So, in summer, both in the southern hemisphere and in the northern hemisphere, the temperature is about the same, explains astrophysics.

Largest distance results in lower velocity

As Kepler's second law points out, when planets are near the Sun in its orbit moves faster than when it is farther away [19659009] The greater distance in aphelion means that orbital translation velocity will be less than 103.536 km / h, or about 3.600 km / h less than speed