At the beginning of January every year, the Earth approaches the near-sun point - the closest point to the Sun in orbit. In 2026, this day falls on January 3, when the distance between the Earth and the Sun is nearly 2.5 million km shorter than the furthest point.
However, in the Northern Hemisphere, this is the peak of winter. Why is the weather getting colder the closer to the Sun?
The answer lies in a less noticeable factor than distance: the tilt of the Earth's axis.
Many people still think that the seasons are born because the Earth is sometimes near, sometimes far from the Sun. In fact, the Earth's orbit is indeed not perfectly round but slightly oval.
However, the distance difference between near-day and far-day is only about 3% - too small to create a clear temperature difference on a global scale.
If distance is the deciding factor, the whole planet will be hot or cold at the same time, which clearly does not happen.
The real factor controlling the four seasons is that the Earth's orbital axis tilts about 23.4 degrees to the orbital plane around the Sun. This tilt causes each hemisphere to tilt towards or away from the Sun in turn during the year.
When a hemisphere leans towards the Sun, the sunlight shines more directly, the days are longer, more energy is received - that is summer. Conversely, when that hemisphere leans far away, the sunlight shines diagonally, the days are short, the temperature drops sharply - winter appears.
January is the time when the Northern Hemisphere leans furthest from the Sun. Although the Earth is near the "space heater", sunlight still shines at low angles, spreading over large areas and short daylight hours. As a result, the temperature drops deeply. Meanwhile, the Southern Hemisphere - leaning towards the Sun - enters mid-summer.
The close-day coincidence with the winter in the Northern Hemisphere is actually just a astronomical coincidence, not a fixed rule. Under the gravitational effects of large planets such as Jupiter and Saturn, the close-day and far-day positions move very slowly over time.
Currently, near-sun falls at the beginning of January, but in a few thousand years, this time will gradually drift to other seasons. In about 4,000 years, near-sun will coincide with spring fertility.
This shift also affects the length of seasons. Currently, summer in the Northern Hemisphere is about 4-5 days longer than winter. The reason is that when the Earth is close to the Sun, it moves faster on its orbit; when it is further away, the speed slows down, making some seasons longer than others. However, this difference will also change over time.
No matter how the orbit changes, the Earth's slope is still a decisive factor. That small slope has created differences between day and night, season - climate, and shaped the planet's pace of life for millions of years.
So, the Earth doesn't cool down because it's far from the Sun, but because in winter, we simply turn our backs on the sun. An angle that seems very small, but enough to control the entire circulation of the four seasons.
