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Last Post 3/18/2008 6:49 AM by David Alexander

placement of the sun

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3/18/2008 5:56 AM
Is the sun moving closer to the earth, farther from the earth, or staying where it is in space? (Keleigh B.)

David Alexander

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3/18/2008 6:49 AM
Hi Keleigh, The Earth orbits the Sun in an elliptical orbit which means that sometimes it is closer to the Sun than others. The closest approach to the Sun is called perihelion while the furthest point is called aphelion. At the present time, perihelion occurs around January with aphelion occurring 6 months later. You might wander why it is winter when the Earth is closest to the Sun but I'll leave that for you to think about. In addition, the Sun orbits the galaxy taking about 250 million years to complete and orbit. This galaxy is also moving being pulled by the gravity of nearby glaxies, most prominently Andromeda. So the Sun is never stationary in space. Cheers - David