That evening, they sat together with a tablet and a mug of hot cocoa. Leo typed the question aloud: “During what month is the sun closest to Earth?”
“January?” Leo blinked. “But it’s freezing.” during what month is the sun closest to earth
Leo had always assumed summer meant the sun was nearest. It made sense: hot, bright, scorching July afternoons, the sun beating down like a giant standing just overhead. So when his daughter Mia, age eight, asked him during a winter picnic, “Dad, when is the sun closest to Earth?” he answered with full confidence. That evening, they sat together with a tablet
Leo scrolled down. An animation showed Earth’s elliptical orbit—not a perfect circle, but a slight oval. The sun sat off-center. In early January, Earth reaches perihelion , its closest point: about 91.4 million miles away. In July, aphelion : nearly 94.5 million miles. A difference of three million miles—enough to affect the sun’s apparent size, but not enough to override the seasons. It made sense: hot, bright, scorching July afternoons,
And every January, when people shivered and complained about the frigid depths of winter, Leo and Mia would look up at the pale sun—larger, technically, than any summer sun—and whisper to each other: