Earth reaches minimum speed

Madrid, July 5. (European Press) –

On July 5 of this year, Earth passed its farthest point from the Sun in its orbit in 2024, an astronomical event known as aphelion. Which is held every year between July 2 and 7.

The moment of greatest separation occurred at exactly 00:06 UTC, when the Earth and Sun were 152,098,455 kilometers apart, about five million kilometers further than perihelion, which occurred this year on January 2. US Naval Observatory reports.

The Earth revolves around the Sun, in an elliptical orbit 930 million kilometers long. At an average speed of 107.280 km/h, Which means covering the distance in 365 days and about 6 hours, and thus a leap year is calculated every four years.

Changes in speed

But, according to Kepler’s second lawThis translation speed varies, and increases until it reaches its maximum at perihelion – the shortest distance from the sun – at 110,700 kilometers per hour. It drops to its minimum at apogee, at a speed of 103.536 km/h, The difference is more than 7000 km/h.

Kepler realized that the line connecting the planets to the sun covers the same area in the same period of time. This means that when the planets are closest to the sun in their orbits, They move faster than they would if they were farther away.

Therefore, the orbital velocity of the planet will be lower the further it is from the Sun, and at smaller distances the orbital velocity will be higher. The average distance from the Sun is 150 million kilometers. At aphelion it reaches 152.09 million km, and at perigee it drops to 147.10 million km.