Is it true that the closer the earth is to the sun, the cooler it becomes , according to NASA?

Question

Does that mean that, here on earth, the closer I get to a red hot fire, the cooler it becomes or is there other reason why the sun-earth relationship is different?

Answer 1

untrue

Answer 2

I'd like to know your source for this.

What is more likely is that this is a misinterpretation of a correct statement. Someone else on these boards asked why you get colder when you go higher, since you are getting closer to the Sun but, as many people pointed out, a few thousand feet is nothing compared to the millions of miles between Earth and Sun.

As for the people who answered here saying the seasons are caused by distance from the Sun, I could really despair at that. I was taught in school the correct reason for the seasons. Why weren't these guys? The tilt of the Earth's axis causes seasons, not distance. When it is winter in the northern hemisphere the Earth is actually closer to the Sun. The reason it is winter is because the tilt of Earth's axis makes the Sun's rays strike the Earth at an oblique angle, hence they are spread out over a greater area on the surface, whereas in summer they strike from more directly above. (To understand what I mean here, shine a torch onto a wall from about two feet away. When you hold the torch parallel to the ground you illuminate a small bright circle on the wall. If you tilt the torch the circle extends to a dimmer ellipse, covering a larger area but with the same amount of light.)

That is possibly where this misunderstanding arose. It IS colder here on Earth in the northern hemisphere when Earth is closer to the Sun. However, that has to do with the tilt of the Earth, not the distance.

Answer 3

No, it is not true and NASA wouldn't say that quite that way. NASA would say that when it is Winter in the Northern hemisphere we are cool, but we are closer to the Sun at that time of year.

The closer we are to the sun, the hotter we will be (we being the whole Earth). However, due to the tilt of the Earth with respect to the Sun, we have seasons. It turns out that for the Northern hemisphere, we are slightly closer to the Sun in the Winter and farther away in the Summer (the Southern hemisphere is the opposite). So, for the Northern hemisphere, we can be cooler (because it is Winter) even though we are closer to the Sun.

Answer 4

The statement you are refering to is a little miss leading when taken out of context. When it is winter here( in the US ) we are actually closer to the sun then when it is summer time. Frankly speaking the closer an object is to the sun the warmer it will be. But the problem has to do with our position on the planet and the tilt that the planet has.
Heat is transfered to the earth via Infrared waves (think of these just like light). So lets say you shine a flashlight directly down at the ground. Notice how bright the spot is, now take the same flashlight and tilt it 45 degrees. The spot will now be much larger covering a larger area. The spot will now appear darker then before.This is because the same amount of light is still being produced but being distributed over a wider area.
So it is true, we are closer to the sun in winter, but our angle to the sun reduces the amount of light we are receiving from it.

Answer 5

The earth has a slightly elliptical orbit around the sun. The earth is closer to the sun in the winter. The earth does not get close enough to the sun to make drastic changes however. The difference in distance is very small.
The cold temperatures are due to the angle at which the suns light falls on the earth. The tilt in the earths axis means that in the winter the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun. Even though the earth is closer to the sun less direct sunlight means less absorption of sunlight to for heat energy. This results in colder temperatures.

Answer 6

This has nothing really to do with how close we are to the sun, but what direction we're facing. You see this has to do with the seasons. The earth is traveling in an oval shape around the sun. Plus the earth is tilted. So When the Earth is closer to the sun. The northen Hemisphere is FACING away from the sun, and we have our winter. However, when we are farther away from the sun, we are facing towards it and we have summer. That's why the summers seem hotter in oh lets say Africa.

Answer 7

Nope. The closer you are to an object radiating heat, the greater your heating rate, unless your albedo changes. Albedo describes how well you absorb that energy. Since the southern hemisphere is mostly water (look at a globe!) I believe it absorbs more energy when it is facing the sun. Since we are also closer to the sun at this time (the Earth's orbit is almost perfectly circular, so don't get caught up on this) I think the heating rate increases.

If you want to checkt the theory above, step closer to a fire and see if you get colder... :-)

Answer 8

Actually no. When the earth revolves around the sun, and the earth is closest to the sun it will get in it's revolution. That few month period is called Summer. In turn when it is further away that is called Winter.

You've been substantially misinformed and should have been able to gather that information just by using common sense.

Think about it. When you get closer to a fire do YOU feel cooler...............?

Answer 9

When did NASA say the Earth gets cooler when it gets closer to the sun? I call BS

Answer 10

I do not remember reading any such report from NASA. The closer the planet is to the sun, the hotter it gets. Venus and Mercury are hotter than the earth. Mars is colder than the earth.

Answer 11

Show me where NASA says the closer earth is to the sun it becomes cooler.. since that is not true and never has been.