Earth's orbit is an ellipse, not a perfect circle. Earth's distance from the Sun varies by about 3 million miles throughout the year. Earth's orbit's semimajor axis is approximately 93 million miles.

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. An award-winning reporter writing about stargazing and the night sky. Earth is today at aphelion, the point in its orbit at which ...

Earth, sun, moon: three objects in space whose interactions have a pretty big impact on our lives. Earth orbits the sun once a year, and it rotates on its axis about once a day (depending on your ...