Misconceptions About Space, Time & The Universe
Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur
00:00
The Importance of Being Aware of Earth's Orbit Elliptically
Earth's orbit is fairly circular as these things go, and we define its normal distance from the Sun as one astronomical unit. Earth gets its closest 0.983 AU at perihelion and 1.017 AU at apelion - that's 3.5% further out than when closest. Other planets with greater eccentricities would likely have a weather and seasonal cycle strongly affected by that eccentricity. Even tidally locked planets around dim or red stars can have significant seasons as a result of that eccentricy.
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