Nina Droff and Yanis Darras 10:40 a.m., January 04, 2023

To get the year off to a good start, the Earth offers itself an express rapprochement with the Sun by crossing the point closest to its star.

Because the blue planet revolves around the latter in an ellipse.

A usual annual event at the beginning of the year well known to astronomy enthusiasts.

It's a rather special day that begins this Wednesday, January 4 for the Earth.

For this beginning of the year, the planet is at its perihelion, its closest point to the Sun.

An annual meeting for the globe which is always held at the beginning of January.

The Earth does not revolve in a perfect circle around its star as we are used to seeing in simplified representations of the solar system.

The latter "is a little flattened on one side, chubby on the other. Clearly, it is an ellipse", explains at the microphone of Europe 1, the president of the French Association of Astronomy, Olivier Las Vergnas .

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A speed record for the Earth

On this occasion, the Earth is only a little more than 147 million kilometers (147,098,924.694 kilometers exactly) from the Sun, specifies on Twitter the astrophysicist at the Observatory of the Côte d'Azur Eric Lagadec.

A reduced distance, which will allow living beings on the surface of our planet, "to be a little more enlightened by the star", specifies Olivier Las Vergnas.

"There is a little more solar energy that is given to the whole Earth, but in the northern hemisphere, we still stay in winter. And in the southern hemisphere, we still stay in summer", tempers however President of the French Association of Astronomy. 

Happy perihelion!

Today, at 4:17:28 p.m., the Earth will pass closest to the Sun.

We will then be "only" 147098924.694 km from our star.



And yes, in the northern hemisphere, the Earth is closer to the Sun in winter!



© IMCCE/.

P. Rocher pic.twitter.com/GT6fInu1Hl

— Eric Lagadec (@EricLagadec) January 4, 2023

If the visible consequences of the passage by the perihelion are thus held, it should all the same be noted that it is at this moment that our planet reaches its fastest speed on its orbit.

In normal times, it averages 107,226 km/h (29.785 km/s).

But, during perihelion, its speed increases by about 5,000 km/h, to reach 112,122 km/h (31.145 km/s). 

Next step for the Earth: aphelion, which will take place on July 6th.

The blue planet will then be at its furthest point from the Sun and will be moving slower than usual (103,863.6 km/h, or 28.851 km/s).

Nearly 152 million kilometers will separate the latter two, or 5 million kilometers more than during perihelion.