The Earth went through this 4th of July the farthest point from the sun in its orbit of this 2022, an astronomical milestone that is known as aphelion, and that takes place every year between July 2 and 7.
The exact moment of greatest separation occurred at 07:10 UTC, when the Earth and the Sun met at 152,098,455 kilometers, about five million kilometers more than at perihelion, which this year occurred on January 4, Time reports. and Date.
The Earth revolves around the Sun, describing an elliptical orbit of 930 million kilometers, at an average speed of 107,280 kilometers per hour, which It means traveling the distance in 365 days and almost 6 hours, hence every four years a leap year is counted.
changes in speed
But, according to Kepler’s second law, that speed of translation variesincreasing to a maximum at perihelion –the shortest distance from the Sun– with 110,700 kilometers per hour, and reducing to a minimum at aphelion, with 103,536 kilometers per hour, more than 7,000 kilometers per hour of difference.
Kepler realized that the line connecting the planets and the Sun covers the same area in the same amount of time. This means that when the planets are close to the Sun in their orbit, they move faster than when they are farther away.
A) Yes, the orbital speed of a planet will be less, at a greater distance from the Sun, and at smaller distances, the orbital speed will be greater. The mean distance from the Sun is on average 150 million km. At aphelion it reaches 152.09 million kilometers and at perihelion it drops to 147.10 million kilometers away.
