Happy perihelion! Earth reaches its closest point to the sun of 2022

[Admin]

The sun is just a little bit closer in Earth's sky right now.

Happy perihelion! Earth reaches its closest point to the sun of 2022 : Read more

 

[Wolfshadw]

I thought it felt warmer today :snicker:

-Wolf sends

 

[rod]

On 24-Dec-2021, I observed 9 active sunspot regions using my telescope with solar filter. Here is something I noted about that observation recorded in my log. "The eyepiece true FOV about 78 arcminutes at 40x. Sun's angular size about 32.5 arcminutes. Earth is at perihelion distance from the Sun on 04-Jan-2022, thus the Sun's angular size is larger in telescope views than during the summer solstice and aphelion (early July), a bit more than 1 arcminute larger size."

Folks walking around on a sunny day will not notice this change in the Sun's angular size in the sky but amateur groups using telescopes did image these differences like folks I know who imaged the Full Moon near apogee and Full Moon near perigee, comparing the differences in size, very apparent.

The flat earth community would need to explain the angular size changes with something other than the Earth moving around the Sun in a slightly elliptical orbit though

 

[Meteoric Marmot]

This is also the longest solar day of the year. This is because the curvature of the Earth's orbit and its orbital speed are highest on this day. For the sun to be directly overhead, the Earth needs to rotate just a little farther than at any other point on its orbit.

Dazzle (or bore) your friends with this tidbit.