ByElizabeth Howellpublished1 day ago

Winter won’t feel any warmer, though.

https://www.space.com/earth-closest-to-sun-perihelion-2022

The Earth reached its perihelion, its closest point to the sun for 2022, on Jan. 4, 2022.(Image credit: NASA)

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

Earthis at its closest to thesunTuesday (Jan. 4) in its 365.25-day journey. This milestone, called perihelion, coincidentally happens near the start of the Gregorian calendar year observed by much of the world, including in North America.

The exact moment of perihelion this year occurred at 1:52 a.m. EST (0652 GMT),according to EarthSky. Earth was about 3 million miles (5 million kilometers) closer to the sun than it is at aphelion, when it is farthest from the sun, which takes place in early July. That variation is relatively small compared to Earth’saverage distance from the sunof 92,955,807 miles (149,597,870…