This Tuesday, January 4, 2022, our planet reaches its maximum speed while its closest approach to the Sun occurs, a phase also known as perihelion. This moment happened at 6.52 UTC (universal time) and at 1.52 pm in Peru time.
The greater speed (110,700 kilometers per hour) of the Earth around its main star is explained by the translational movement. As the Earth’s orbit is elliptical Every year the planet passes through a point closer to the Sun (147 million km) and also through a further point (152 million km). These distances between the Sun and the Earth are known respectively as perihelion Y aphelion.
He was the German astronomer and mathematician Johannes kepler the one who in 1609 suggested that the orbital speed of the planets is greater when they are near their star and less in their farthest distance. Thus, today the Earth travels to 110,700 kilometers per hour, when in his aphelion he will do it at 103,536 kilometers per hour, a difference of 7 thousand km / h.
The average orbital speed of the Earth is 107,280 kilometers per hour. For that reason it takes 365 days and almost 6 hours to give the star a spin. Also for this reason there is a leap-year (with 366 days) every four years.
It should be noted that, although the Earth is closer to the Sun at this stage, only now does the southern hemisphere experience summer, while the northern side is in winter. This is due to the tilt of the Earth’s axis of rotation which determines the four seasons.
The Earth will go through its aphelion on July 4 and at that time the northern hemisphere will already experience its summer season, which lasts almost five days longer than the winter season in the southern hemisphere.
Source-larepublica.pe