Earth’s aphelion on July 6 puts it farthest from the sun in 2026, but summer heat comes from Earth’s tilt, long days and direct sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere.

Every year in early January, Earth reaches the closest point in its orbit to the Sun, a moment astronomers call perihelion. We are slightly nearer to our star and receiving more solar energy than we ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. An award-winning reporter writing about stargazing and the night sky. Earth is today at aphelion, the point in its orbit at which ...