Earth was farthest from sun on its elliptical orbit on Friday and was less intense than previous days, scientific bodies said. Earth was 152 million km astronomically far from sun. This phenomenon is called aphelion, scientists said. On January 2 this year, earth was at its closest point (perihelion) to the sun at a distance of 147 million km, and people had experienced a comparatively warmer day.

According to Nasa a distant Sun means less sunlight for the planet.

Sunlight falling on earth at aphelion is about 7% less intense than it is at perihelion. Also at aphelion, the sun appears smaller in the sky by 1.7% and global solar heating is less by 3.5% than the yearly average. Raghunandan Kumar, director and founder secretary of Planetary Society, India said contrary to common belief that season temperature is dependent on distance of earth from sun, it is the tilt of the earth's axis when revolving around the sun, called axial tilt, that determines seasons.

Source: Times of India