Most diagrams in textbooks have the planets going around the sun in circular orbits. While this is almost true, the planets actually orbit in ellipses.
I learned to draw an ellipse by tying a loop of string, sticking two pins in a paper, looping the loop around the pins, and then drawing while stretching the loop with a pencil. The resulting figure is an ellipse which has two focal points or foci.
From a practical perspective, this means our distance from the sun varies on an annual basis. On July 4, we were as far from the Sun as we can get and on Jan. 4, we will be as close as we get – give or take a few hours in both cases. The two points are respectively referred to as “aphelion” and “perihelion,” meaning “away from” and “near” in Greek. At aphelion – a couple days ago – we were 152,093,250 kilometres from the centre of the sun. Over the next six months, we will fall towards the sun, reaching perihelion at 147,098,924 kilometres only to climb back up to aphelion.
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