could it be possible? earth close to sun!

by rolen
(region V, iriga city, phil.)

It's being hot for the past few years and we are asking so many question why, and how these things happen. I have never seen, already, the perfect fluffy clouds since I was 12, and that was awful.

The noontime was fresh everyday from that time then, so I asked my silly question to myself, "COULD IT BE POSSIBLE? THE EARTH IS GETTING NEARER TO THE SUN?" I was just curious; laugh if you can.

Barry's Response - The earth travels an elliptical orbit and reaches its closest point to the sun every January and its furthest point in early July. I hope that helps, Rolen.

With that said, the orbit has presumably been stable over the billions of years. There are variations in the orbit that go through repeated, predictable cycles. We call them Milankovitch Cycles.

• Eccentricity - Sometimes the shape of the earth's orbit is more circular than others, where it takes a longer, oblong shape. It goes through a complete cycle once every 400,000 years or so.
• Tilt - Sometimes the planet sits more upright relative to the sun than other times. The earth goes through this cycle every 41,000 years
• Precession - What's that? Right now the northern hemisphere points toward the sun (summer) when the earth is furthest away from the sun. 13,000 years from now, northern summer will occur when the earth is at its closest point, then it will gradually swing back again. Scientists call this first precession Axial Precession. In the second, Apsidal Precession, the earth's orbit swings around the sun, meaning that the furthest point on the ellipse has an orbit of its own with progress around the sun every 21,000 years.
• Orbital inclination - Imagine an elliptical orbit as a flat plate, with the earth going around its perimeter. Add to that a much bigger plate which includes all of the planets, on average. Earth's plate wobbles back and forth within this larger one on a period of about 100,000 years.

See some examples of See how these cycles affect climate

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