good morning. January 4th, today’s image is of our star Sol. The image was taken Wednesday by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, a spacecraft in geostationary orbit.
So why a photo of the sun? That’s because we have just passed through perihelion, the point at which the Earth is closest to the sun. This year’s perihelion was Wednesday, January 3 at 00:38 UTC. We came within about 91.4 million miles (147 million km) of the star. Due to its slightly elliptical orbit around the sun, Earth will reach aphelion, 94.5 million miles (152 million km) away from her, on July 5 this year.
Of course, it’s a bit ironic for those of us who live in the northern hemisphere. At the coldest time of the year, just a few weeks after the winter solstice, we are closest to the sun. Our planet’s seasons are determined by the tilt of Earth’s axis, but not by its proximity to the sun.
In any case, Happy New Year! It’s a time when the world is full of possibilities and shines like a star.
sauce: NASA SDO
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