This January 4th, the Earth will be at perihelion, closest to the Sun in its annual orbit. That produces the maximum orbital speed, accelerating 3,420 kilometers per hour above average.
The Earth revolves around the Sun, describing an elliptical orbit of 930 million kilometers, at an average speed of 107,280 kilometers per hourwhich means traveling the distance in 365 days and almost 6 hours, hence a leap year is counted every four years.
But, according to Kepler’s second law, that translation speed varies, increasing to its maximum at perihelion _the shortest distance to the Sun_ with 110,700 kilometers per hour, and reducing to its minimum at aphelion, with 103,536 kilometers per hour, more than 7,000 kilometers per hour apart.
According to earth and sky, the perihelion of 2023 will occur at 16:00 UTC (11:00 in Ecuador) this Wednesday, January 4, with a distance of just over 147 million kilometers. The aphelion in 2023 will be on July 6, about 5 million kilometers away.
Kepler noted 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.
Thus, 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 average distance from the Sun is on average 150 million kilometers. At aphelion it reaches 152.09 million kilometers and at perihelion it drops to 147.10 million kilometers away, details Europe Press.
On January 4, the apogee of the Quadrantids meteor shower will also take place. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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