MCQ Detailed View

The Earth moves around the Sun in an elliptical path. This means the orbit is slightly oval-shaped and not a perfect circle. Because of this, the distance between the Earth and the Sun is not always the same. Sometimes the Earth is closer to the Sun, and sometimes it is farther away.

When the Earth is at its farthest distance from the Sun, this point is called Aphelion. The word comes from Greek, where “apo” means away and “helios” means Sun. Aphelion usually happens in early July, when the Earth is about 152 million kilometers from the Sun.

The opposite position is called Perihelion, which occurs in early January, when the Earth is about 147 million kilometers away from the Sun.

It is important to remember that the seasons are not caused by this distance. Many students think that Earth’s summer comes when we are closest to the Sun, but this is incorrect. The real reason for seasons is the tilt of Earth’s axis. For example, in July (when Earth is at aphelion and farthest from the Sun), the Northern Hemisphere experiences summer because it tilts toward the Sun. At the same time, the Southern Hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun, so it has winter.

The difference in distance between perihelion and aphelion is about 5 million kilometers, but this does not create major changes in weather. Instead, this fact is studied in Everyday Science to help us understand how Earth’s orbit works and why distance changes happen.

So, the correct answer is Aphelion, the point when Earth is farthest from the Sun.