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Aphelion
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Diagram showing Earth's elliptical orbit around the Sun with labeled points for aphelion, perihelion, solstices, and equinoxes, and distances from the Sun at aphelion and perihelion. A diagram of a planet's elliptical orbit around the Sun, labeled with key points: A for aphelion, B for perihelion, C for the center, S for the Sun, P for the planet, V for true anomaly, and E for eccentric anomaly, with lines and angles illustrating their relationships.
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Diagram showing Earth's elliptical orbit around the Sun with labeled points for aphelion, perihelion, solstices, and equinoxes, and distances from the Sun at aphelion and perihelion.
Earth's orbit On average, Earth is approximately 149.6 million km (about 92.96 million miles) away from the Sun. Earth's orbit around the Sun is nearly circular, with one full orbit marking the period of one year.

Aphelion

astronomy
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Aphelion, in astronomy, the point in the orbit of a planet, comet, or other body most distant from the Sun. When Earth is at its aphelion in early July, it is about 4,800,000 km (3,000,000 miles) farther from the Sun than when at its perihelion (closest point to the Sun) in early January. Corresponding terms for describing the most distant orbital point of bodies moving around centers of force other than the Sun include apogee (for farthest point from Earth) and aposaturnium (for farthest point from Saturn). The apogee of Earth’s Moon, for instance, is about 50,000 km (31,000 miles) more distant from Earth than its closest orbital point (perigee). The word apocenter is a general term for the farthest point in a body’s orbit from the body it circles.

Aphelion Dates and Times, 2026–35
year date time (UTC)*
*For Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), subtract 4 hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). For Indian Standard Time (IST), add 5 hours and 30 minutes to UTC.
2026 July 6 17:30
2027 July 5 5:06
2028 July 3 22:18
2029 July 6 5:12
2030 July 4 12:57
2031 July 6 7:10
2032 July 5 11:53
2033 July 3 20:52
2034 July 6 18:49
2035 July 5 18:21
The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Erik Gregersen.