NASA
Good morning. It is January 4, and right this moment’s picture is a photograph of our star, Sol. The picture was captured by NASA’s Photo voltaic Dynamics Observatory, a spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit, on Wednesday.
So why an image of the Solar? As a result of we have simply handed perihelion, the purpose at which planet Earth reaches its closest level to the Solar. This yr perihelion got here at 00:38 UTC on Wednesday, January 3. We obtained to inside about 91.4 million miles (147 million km) of the star. On account of its barely elliptical orbit across the Solar, Earth will attain aphelion this yr on July 5, at a distance of 94.5 million miles (152 million km).
There’s a little bit of irony for these of us who dwell within the Northern Hemisphere, in fact. We method nearest to the Solar at virtually the coldest time of yr, simply a few weeks after the winter solstice. Our planet’s seasons are decided by Earth’s axial tilt, nevertheless, not its proximity to the Solar.
In any case, completely satisfied new yr, a time when the world can appear stuffed with risk—shiny and shiny like a star.
Supply: NASA SDO
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