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Earth to reach closest point to Sun on Jan 2

Hyderabad: Earth will reach the closest point to the sun on January 2, the Planetary Society of India (PSI) said today.

PSI director N. Raghunandan Kumar said in the conference today that Earth revolves around Sun in an elliptical orbit. So at one point of time during its journey around the sun, it will be at the closest point it can get (perihelion) and at one point of time during the year it would be at the farthest point (aphelion).

Raghunandan Kumar also said that at 7.27 pm Planet Earth will reach the closest point to Sun in its annual elliptical orbit around Sun at 0.9832571 AU i.e. at 14,70,93,168 km from Sun.

Astronomically this phenomenon is known as “Perihelion”. Whereas on 6th July 2021 at 3:46 a.m. IST Earth will be at Aphelion at 1.0167292 AU (15,21,00,523 km) from Sun i.e. which is the farthest point from Sun.

In other words, due to Perihelion on 2nd Jan 2021 Earth, tomorrow will be 50,07,355 km closer to Sun compared to 6th July 2021. Though people will not able to notice or observe this celestial event.

Raghunandan Kumar further said that This event is of the greatest importance for the educational potential for students and the public to understand temperatures or Seasons on Earth are not dependant on the distance of Earth to the Sun but axial tilt during its journey around the Sun.