Aphelion 2024 is happening today and has no climate consequences; understand

Hey Apogee phenomenon – The time of year that The Earth is farthest from the Sun. – expected to happen Friday (5)However, it will not cause a drop in temperature or harm human health, contrary to what some posts on the Internet say.

A post that has garnered more than 3 thousand views is being shared on Social media Since 2022, it has been said that the apogee could affect the climate, but this news is false, as confirmed and published by Agence France-Presse.

“Starting tomorrow at 5:27 a.m., we will experience the APHELION phenomenon. The Earth will be very far from the Sun. We cannot see this phenomenon, but we can feel its effect. This will continue until August. We will have cold weather, more than ever, which will lead to flu, coughing, difficulty breathing, etc.

According to the astronomical guide InTheSky.org, Earth reaches aphelion at 2:06 a.m. (Brasilia time), when it is 1.0167 astronomical units (AU) away from the Sun, or 152,093,163 kilometers.

What is apogee?

“Aphelion is the point in the orbit around the Sun where the Earth is farthest from the star, and perihelion (which means ‘closest to the Sun’) is the exact opposite, the point in the orbit where the Earth is closest to the star,” Neira Rodriguez Eugenio, an astrophysicist and professor at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands in Tenerife, Spain, told BBC Mundo.

“At perihelion, the Sun is about 147 million kilometers from Earth, and at aphelion, it is about 152 million kilometers from the Sun.”

The distance varies because the Earth's orbit around the Sun is not a perfect circle, our planet describes an elliptical path.

Therefore, the force of attraction between the Sun and the Earth varies throughout the orbit – and the Earth's orbital speed changes depending on its distance from the Sun.

The Aphelion occurs every year between July 2 and 7.