why does the distance between the earth and the sun vary throughout the year?
Answers
Explanation:
Earth's orbit is very nearly circular. Thus it's not our distance from the sun – but instead the tilt of our world's axis – that creates winter and summer on Earth. In winter, your part of Earth is tilted away from the sun. In summer, your part of Earth is tilted toward the sun
Answer: This may help you
Explanation:
The temperatures on Earth vary according to the seasons. These are related to the axial tilt of the Earth compared to its orbit around the Sun (the Ecliptica).
At the moment, perihelion (Earth closest to Sun) occurs in the beginning of January, while aphelion (Earth farthest away from Sun) occurs in the beginning of July.
Now you have to realize that we have to make a distinction between the nortern and the southern hemisphere. On the northen Hemisphere (e.g. USA, Canada, Europe) summer occurs in July. But in the southern Hemisphere (e.g. Australia) summer occurs in January.
Combine this with the slight variation in radiation from the Sun we see that:
Summers in the southern hemisphere occur when the Sun is closest to the Earth, while summers in the northern hemisphere occur when the Sun is farthesy away from the Earth.
This means that summers in the southern hemisphere are (ever so slightly) warmer than summers in the northern hemisphere. In other words, the southern hemisphere has warmer summers and cooler winters, i.e. more extreme weather.
Now the magnitude of this effect is very small, and is indeed overshadowed by effects from the oceanic currents, etc.