Word of the Day

Today is Independence Day.  It is also the day that planet earth is furthest from the sun.

The elliptical orbit of the earth will reach its furthest point from Old Sol precisely when this blog post is published - at 2:00 PM CST.

This also brings us to another Word of the Day.  Astronomers call this phenomenon aphelion.  

image Credit - Starry Night

At aphelion our home planet will be 94.51 million miles away from the sun.  That is more than 3 million miles further away than when earth is closest - known as perihelion.  The actual distance varies a bit year-over-year.

If you're feeling a bit cooler this afternoon now you know why.