Monthly Night Sky information provided by Chris Vaughan (@Astrogeoguy) at Starry Night Education (@StarryNightEdu).
- This event has passed.
Earth at Aphelion (at 20:00 GMT)
July 3 @ 12:00 am
On Thursday, July 3 at 4:00 p.m. EDT, 1:00 p.m. PDT, or 20:00 GMT, Earth will reach aphelion, its greatest distance from the sun for this year. Aphelion’s 94.51 million miles (152.09 million km) distance is 1.67% farther from the sun than the mean Earth-sun separation of 92.96 million miles (149.6 million km), which is also defined to be 1 Astronomical Unit (1 A.U.). Seasonal temperature variations arise from the Earth’s axis of rotation tilting towards and away from the sun, and not from our distance from the sun. Earth will reach its minimum distance from the sun, or perihelion, on January 4, 2026.
