Aphelion means the point in the orbit of a planet farthest from the sun.

Did you know that the Earth is the farthest from the sun right now?

It sounds strange at first because it’s actually the hottest time of the year.

One would think it’s actually the opposite.

This little marvel is due to the fact that the Earth’s orbit around the sun isn’t a perfect circle.

It’s an ellipse.

We are currently just over 94 million miles away from the sun (94,506,364 mi). The key is that the Earth is tilted, and the Northern Hemisphere is facing the sun.

The Earth’s orbit is an ellipse. At one end point, it’s slightly closer to the sun and at the other, it’s slightly farther away.

These points are six months apart and take place in early January and early July.

The dates range a bit but can shift by about four days, and the distance differs by just over 3 million miles (3,103,330 mi).

While this difference seems large to us, but on an astronomical scale, it’s actually very small.

Now what about the temperature part?

How is the Earth farthest from the sun, yet it’s so hot? That has to do with the axial tilt. Without it, we wouldn’t have seasons. With a tilt of 23.5 degrees, the Northern Hemisphere is getting most of the direct sunlight right now.

The summer solstice was just two weeks ago, and the sun is still very high in the afternoon sky. More sunlight equals warmer temperatures.

In another six months, Earth will be on the opposite side of its orbit, 3 million miles closer, but tilted away from the Sun.

This will be perihelion in January.

(Credit: NASA)