Comet 3I/ATLAS was expected to come within 130 million miles of the sun on Oct. 30. For the time being, 3I/ATLAS will remain on the opposite side of the sun from Earth, making it impossible to observe ...

Every year in early January, Earth reaches the closest point in its orbit to the Sun, a moment astronomers call perihelion. We are slightly nearer to our star and receiving more solar energy than we ...

If I were on Mars, how often would I see Earth transit the Sun? Steven RiserConyers, Georgia From Mars, Earth transits the ...

Every January, Earth reaches its closest point to the Sun, known as perihelion. Yet, it’s winter in the Northern Hemisphere. This may seem odd: why is it colder when we’re supposedly closer to the Sun ...

A strip of cool water stretches west from South America along the equator, helping set the pace for some of the planet’s most important weather swings. That Pacific “cold tongue” helps steer the El ...

Each year, Earth reaches its closest point to the sun in early January, a moment called perihelion. In 2026, this occurred on January 3 at 12:15 p.m. EST, when Earth was about 91.4 million miles from ...

The Earth stands alone in the solar system as a habitable world, as far as we know. But that doesn’t mean we don’t get visitors, most often in the form of (usually harmless) asteroids. Some even ...

Winter often feels like a long stretch of weak light and cold air. The idea that Earth is actually closest to the Sun during this time can sound wrong, almost misleading. January mornings do not feel ...