Aphelion

This page is about the astronomy term. For other uses, see Aphelion (disambiguation).

1. Planet at aphelion 2. Planet at perihelion 3. Sun

The aphelion is the point in the orbit of an object where it is farthest from the Sun. The point in the orbit where an object is nearest to the sun is called the perihelion. The word aphelion derives from the Greek words, apo meaning away, off, apart and Helios. It's an apoapsis of an body in the Solar System.

The Earth's orbit has its aphelion around July the third, at which it is approximately 152.1 million kilometers or 94.5 million miles from the Sun. Due to the workings of the Gregorian calendar, it may be a day or two earlier or later.