China News Service, Nanjing, July 4th (Reporter Yang Yanci) The reporter learned from the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that at 15:11 on the 4th, the earth reached its orbital aphelion, and a round of the year's "smallest sun" appeared in the sky.

  It is currently the height of summer in the northern hemisphere, and the dog days are coming.

The "petite" sun released a huge amount of energy, scorching the earth.

  Wang Kechao, director of popular science at the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced that the orbit of the earth around the sun is not a perfect circle, but an ellipse.

Therefore, the relationship between the sun and the earth has a "closeness and distance".

  Every January, when the earth passes perihelion, there will be the "biggest sun" of the year.

And in July, the earth comes to aphelion, so visually there will be the "minimum sun" of the year.

  In 2022, the moment when the earth moves to aphelion is 15:11 on July 4.

At this time, the apparent diameter of the sun has reached the "smallest" in the year, which is about 3.4% smaller than the apparent diameter of the sun when the earth passed the perihelion on January 4 this year, which can be called the "smallest sun of the year".

  As for why the sun is farther away from the earth, but people feel hotter?

Experts say that changes in the distance between the sun and the earth are not the main reason for the change of seasons.

The rotation of the four seasons is mainly affected by the angle of yellow and red.

  Experts remind the public that if they want to watch the "minimum sun", they must pay attention to eye protection and do not observe it directly with the naked eye.

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