2006-09-07 08:34:52 · 5 answers · asked by hunnk33 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
About 186 million miles, as we are an average of 93 million miles away from the Sun.
2006-09-07 08:39:00 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
The orbit of the earth is an ellipse, not a circle. The semimajor axis of the earth's orbit is 92956198 miles and the semiminor axis is 91648757. So the opposite sides of the earth's orbit will be between twice the semimajor axis and twice the semiminor axis or from 185912396 miles to 183297514 miles depending on the time of year. That is a difference of more than 2.6 million miles.
2006-09-07 08:59:33 · answer #2 · answered by sparc77 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In 2000, perihelion for the Earth was on January 3, 2000, and aphelion was on July 4, 2000. The Earth was 91,405,436 miles from Sun at perihelion and 94,511,989 miles from Sun at aphelion. For the year 2001, perihelion will occur on January 3rd and aphelion will occur on July 4th. The actual date for perihelion and aphelion will differ from year to year. Most importantly though, you can see that the Earth is closest to the Sun in January and farthest from the Sun in July!
The total is about 186 million miles!
2006-09-07 08:49:07 · answer #3 · answered by Otis F 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
186 million miles is the diametre of the earth's orbit and as to why, well, that's the result of how the solar system formed and how earth ended up being trapped in the Sun's gravity.
2006-09-07 08:43:01 · answer #4 · answered by darth_timon 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What do you mean, "Why?" Because that's where things ended up, okay? Why do people usually take the feathers off a chicken before they eat it?
2006-09-07 11:08:46 · answer #5 · answered by aviophage 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋