The Earth has reached the aphelion and has now started inching back towards the sun

Jul 6, 2013 13:41 GMT  ·  By

The sun is now at its furthest from the Earth as it's going to get for a year and, in fact, the distance between our planet and the sun is already shrinking, having reached its maximum yesterday.

The planet is now five million kilometers (three million miles) further from our star than it was six months ago.

Still, the average distance to the sun is about 150 million kilometers (93 million miles), so the movement isn't that great. On July 5, the Earth was at 152,097,426 kilometers (94,508,959 miles) away.

Last New Year's Day, the Earth was 4,999,264 kilometers (3,106,399 miles) closer. Earth is now at the aphelion of its orbit around the sun, the farthest point. The perihelion is the closest point.

It may be a bit surprising to find out that the Earth is actually furthest away from the Sun during summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

A surprising number of people believe that the distance to the sun has an influence on the weather and the climate. But the effect the distance has on how much heat the Earth gets from the sun is minute.