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                           Astronomy Picture of the Day   
      
       Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our   
         fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation   
                       written by a professional astronomer.   
      
                                  2025 January 4   
      
                               Welcome to Perihelion   
          Image Credit & Copyright: Peter Ward (Barden Ridge Observatory)   
      
      Explanation: Earth's orbit around the Sun is not a circle, it's an   
      ellipse. The point along its elliptical orbit where our fair planet is   
      closest to the Sun is called perihelion. This year perihelion is today,   
      January 4, at 13:28 UTC, with the Earth about 147 million kilometers   
      from the Sun. For comparison, at aphelion on last July 3 Earth was at   
      its farthest distance from the Sun, some 152 million kilometers away.   
      But distance from the Sun doesn't determine Earth's seasons. It's only   
      by coincidence that the beginning of southern summer (northern winter)   
      on the December solstice - when this H-alpha picture of the active Sun   
      was taken - is within 14 days of Earth's perihelion date. And it's only   
      by coincidence that Earth's perihelion date is within 11 days of the   
      historic perihelion of NASA's Parker Solar Probe. Launched in 2018, the   
      Parker Solar Probe flew within 6.2 million kilometers of the Sun's   
      surface on 2024 December 24, breaking its own record for closest   
      perihelion for a spacecraft from planet Earth.   
      
                         Tomorrow's picture: rocket launch   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.   
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                         A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,   
                              NASA Science Activation   
                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
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