Exactly when is the earth nearest the sun?
607409
Around January 3 - 6. In 1998, for example, it will be January 5 at a distance of 0.9832988 AU or 147,099,000 kilometers. At that time the distance changes by 44,879 kilometers per day.
596684
The correct option is 'rotation of the earth'. When earth revolves, some part of it is directly facing the sun, and the other part is not. That explains the presence of day in one part of the world, and night in the other.
542914
There are two ways to answer your question - \n\nThe orbit of Venus is closest to the orbit of Earth.\n\nHowever, depending on the current positions of the planets in their relative orbits... Mars or Mercury could be closest to Earth.\n\nToday, it appears that Venus is the closest planet.\n\nTwo months from now, Mercury will be the closest planet to Earth.\n\nSee the attached link for a pretty nifty orbit simulator from the NASA /JPL website.
1163913
The average distance between the Earth and the Sun is 149,590,787 km or 92,951,640 mi. This distance is called an Astronomical Unit (AU). The orbit of the Earth deviates a bit from a circle, so the distance between the Earth and the Sun isn't always the same. The Earth is closest to the Sun (in the perihelion of the Earth's orbit) around 4 January, when it is winter in the northern hemisphere of the Earth and summer in the southern hemisphere, and is furthest from the Sun (in the aphelion of the Earth's orbit) around 4 July, when it is summer in the north and winter in the south.\n\nThe difference between the distances on 4 January and 4 July is about 3 percent, which corresponds to about 5 million km or 3 million mi.
935922
F=GMm/r^2. The M and m stay the same, but r changes. Which one gives the smaller r (and hence the larger force)? If you assume a circular orbit, then the answer is clearly noon today. However, the orbit is not a circle, it is an ellipse. There are certainly days when you are closer at midnight than at noon the previous day, but if that happens, the earth is getting closer to the sun in its orbit. Today, however, the earth is actually moving away from the sun, so noon is still the correct answer. In May, the answer would be midnight.
924812
The mass of the sun is 330,000 times that of the earth. It is about half again as dense as water.
233745
The mean radius is 6371.0 km.  The radius at any latitude is equal to that times the cosine of the latitude.  The Earth turns once on it's axis in 23 hr 56 min 4.0989 sec, or 23.93447 hrs.\n\nIt takes that long to travel 2(Pi)(6371)(cos(lat)).  Divide that distance by the time above and you're in the ball park (neglecting the difference in polar and equatorial radii).\n\nNote: The figure given for the Earth's rotation is correct according to Astrophysical Data: Planets and Stars.  The 24-hour day is measured from noon to noon - in relation to the Sun.  The Earth kind of rolls around its orbit, so after it has turned thru one rotation it has also moved along its orbit.  It has to turn for another 53.9 sec past the full rotation for the Sun to be back to due south again.
1041232
An equinox in astronomy is the moment when the Sun passes over the equator. The event occurs twice a year, around March 20 and September 23. The word equinox derives from the Latin word for equal night. The equinoxes are the two days each year when the middle of the Sun is an equal amount of time above and below the horizon for every location on Earth.
614661
The closest star to the Earth is the actually Sun, at a distance of 8.3 light minutes (93 million miles), but I suppose you weren't asking about that. \n\nThe next closest star is Alpha Centauri, which is 4.3 light years away.
71063
The distance between the earth and the sun is not constant.  The earth's\norbit around the sun is nearly circular, but not perfectly so. \nOn average, the distance between the earth and the sun is 93 million miles.\nThis is not anywhere near a light-year.  It is more like 8.3 light-minutes.
661783
Don't you mean 2nd "nearest" star? The Sun of course is the nearest. The 2nd nearest star from the Earth is the Proxima Centauri which is 4.2 light years away.\n\nI think astrologers haven't named or even determined the the farthest and second farthest stars from the Earth.
35969
The Earth rotates (spins around).  Sometimes a side is facing the Sun and is in daytime.  Sometimes it is not and is in nighttime.
382741
The sun is the closest star to Earth.
397555
doesnt it go all the way round ?\n\nThe equator is an imaginary circle drawn around a planet (or other astronomical object) at a distance halfway between the poles. The equator divides the planet into a Northern Hemisphere and a Southern Hemisphere. The latitude of the equator is, by definition, 0°. The length of Earth's equator is about 40,075.0 km, or 24,901.5 miles.\n\n \nThe equator is one of the five main circles of latitude based on the relationship of the Earth's rotation and plane of orbit around the sun. Additionally, the equator is the only line of latitude which is also a great circle.\n\nThe Sun, in its seasonal movement through the sky, passes directly over the equator twice each year on the Vernal and Autumnal Equinoxes, which occur in March and September respectively. At the equator, the rays of the sun are perpendicular to the surface of the earth on these dates.\n\nPlaces near the equator experience the quickest rates of sunrise and sunset in the world, taking minutes. Such places also have a relatively constant amount of day/night time on every day throughout the year compared with more northerly or southerly places.
661135
The sun will be directly overhead at 12 noon.  The horizontal path the sun follows traced by its position at sunrise on different days along the horizon, well it'll be in the middle (kinda hard to see this one unless you're tracking the sun somehow, like in the movie Cast Away).  The amount of sunlight will be exactly 12 hours on the equator and will be a function of latitude for anywhere else (such as 12*cos(latitude) for anywhere else in the world).  Other than that, I can't think of anything.  Nothing grandiose happens...
207691
Earth's orbiting around the sun & Earth's 23.5 degree tilt of axis.\n\nOn earth's orbit around the sun, there are 4 points of position that we refer to as either equinoxes(2) or solstices(2).\n\nTo begin with, a solstice is the time when on Earth the sun is either at it's lowest (winter) or highest (summer) point in the sky. An equinox is when all places on the planet experiences equal amounts of light & darkness.\n\nFor the Northern Hemisphere:\n\nWhen the Northern axis is tilted toward the sun we are experiencing the summer solstice. On that day we have the greatest amount of sunlight.\n\nNext stop is the Autumnal equinox. About 1/4 of the way in our orbit around the sun, the Earth's axis is neither pointed toward or away from the sun. All places on earth experience the same amount of daylight/night hours.\n\nAgain, 1/2 the way in it's orbit, the Earth's northern axis is tilted away from the sun so that we get the least amount of daylight hours on this particular day.\n\nAs we move on still, 3/4 of the way around the sun, we experience another equinox. This is the Vernal or Spring equinox. Again, the northern axis is neither pointed toward or away from the sun. Equal daylight/night hours occur.\n\nAs for the Southern Hemisphere: they have the opposite seasons for the very same reasons as above. It is really cool that while we are celebrating Christmas during the winter monthes that the Southern Hemisphere's Dec. 25 is during the SUMMER!\n\nDebunking some common myths (pet peeves of mine):\n\n**Myth 1**The seasons are NOT caused by the distance of Earth from the Sun. In all actuality, the earth is closest in it's orbit to the sun during the winter monthes.\n\n**Myth 2**The earth's axis DOES NOT turn as it goes around the sun! The earth turns on it's axis & the earth revolves around the sun. This combination causes us to be tilted toward or away from the sun!\n\n**Myth 3**An egg will NOT stand on end during an equinox! All eggs have differences in their surfaces which may allow any to be stood on end if you tried it long enough!
1150897
Do one of our solar system and its relative distance from our sun