The Earth will travel at its maximum speed on January 4, 2023

This Wednesday, January 4, 2023, the Earth reaches its maximum orbital speed as it reaches its closest annual approach to the Sun, a phase also known as perihelion. This unique event, which coincides with the apogee of the quadrantid meteor shower, will take place at 4:00 p.m. UTC or 11:00 a.m. Peruvian time.

The greatest speed of the Earth (110,700 km/h) around the sun is due to the movement of translation, an elliptical orbit of 930 million kilometers, which means traveling the distance in 365 days and almost 6 hours.

Given the shape of its route, each year the planet passes through a point further from the star (its aphelion, 152 million km) and through another closer (its perihelion, 147 million km).

In 1609, Johannes Kepler realized that the line connecting the planets and the Sun covered 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.

According to Earth Sky, an astronomy portal, the aphelion of 2023 will occur on July 6 at 8:00 p.m. UTC and 3:00 p.m. in Peru time.

With information from Europa Press

Source-larepublica.pe