The meaning of PERIHELION is the point nearest to the sun in the path of an orbiting celestial body (such as a planet).
Derived from the Greek words peri (around) and helios (sun), the word reflects its meaning. In contrast, the term "aphelion" refers to the point where the orbiting body is farthest from the sun. When is Perihelion? Earth will reach its closest point to the sun, known as perihelion, on...
What is perihelion and when does it occur? Perihelion isthe point of the Earth's orbit that is nearest to the Sun. Aphelion always happens in early July. About two weeks after the June solstice, Earth is farthest from the Sun. Perihelion always happens in early January. ...
Earth doesn’t experience a significant temperature change during perihelion or aphelion because the change in distance to the sun is rather small compared to the overall distance — about 7% more sunlight compared to aphelion. However, because the planet orbits the sun at a 23.5-degree tilt, pr...
…the centre, the specific terms perihelion and aphelion are generally used; if the Earth, perigee and apogee. Periastron and apastron refer to an orbit around a star, and perijove and apojove refer to an orbit around Jupiter. Read More ...