Sun to be at the farthest distance from Earth on Saturday

Sky watchers will get an opportunity to see the Sun at the farthest distance from the Earth on Saturday on Aphelion Day.

Sky watchers will get an opportunity to see the Sun at the farthest distance from the Earth on Saturday on Aphelion Day.

'At 7:30 am on Saturday, the Earth will be at its farthest point from the Sun (aphelion), the distance at that time is 152,097,040 kms, which is about 5 million km further away than its closest point in early January,' President of Science Popularisation Association of Communication and Educators (SPACE) Chander Bhushan Devgan told PTI.

Every July the Earth is at aphelion, the farthest from the Sun for the year and in January it is at perihelion, the closest to the Sun for the year, he said.

Explaining the reason why the temperature does not go down on Aphelion Day even when the sunlight is less, Devgan said, 'There are many reasons for it. Blame it on the tilt of the Earth's axis. Actually, our seasons are determined by the tilt of the Earth and not by how close the Earth is to the Sun. Sunlight raises the temperature of continents more than it does of the oceans.'

This is also the reason why the total energy received from Sun by the globe on aphelion is around 7 per cent less than what we receive when it is closest to the sun on perihelion, he added.