Earth is at aphelion
Posted by Wayne Fisher on 11:14 7/3/2009
"Earth circles the sun, right? Not exactly. Earth's orbit is an ellipse, not a circle, which means the sun-Earth distance varies throughout the year. On July 3rd and 4th, Earth is at "aphelion," the most distant point in its orbit. Around this time, the sun looks about 1.7% smaller and sunlight is 3.4% less intense than the annual average. But don't expect any relief from the heat"