Earth Reaches 94.5 Million Miles From Sun on July 6 as 23.4-Degree Tilt Drives Summer Heat
Updated
Updated · WRAL News · Jun 13
Earth Reaches 94.5 Million Miles From Sun on July 6 as 23.4-Degree Tilt Drives Summer Heat
3 articles · Updated · WRAL News · Jun 13
Summary
July 6 will bring Earth to aphelion—about 152.1 million kilometers, or 94.5 million miles, from the Sun—even as North Carolina and much of the Northern Hemisphere endure peak summer heat.
The heat comes from Earth’s 23.4-degree Axial tilt, which points the Northern Hemisphere toward the Sun in June and July, producing more direct sunlight and much longer days.
Raleigh gets nearly 15 hours of daylight around the summer solstice versus less than 10 near the winter solstice, a bigger driver of seasonal warming than Earth’s changing distance from the Sun.
Earth was about 147.1 million kilometers from the Sun at perihelion in early January, making the roughly 5 million-kilometer, 3.3% orbital difference too small to explain the seasons.