Look up today — the Sun is playing hard to get. July 6 marks Aphelion, the single day each year when Earth sits at the greatest possible distance from the Sun in its slightly oval orbit. The gap today: a staggering 15.20 crore km, according to Prabhakar Dod, head of the Vishwabharati Centre.
Here’s the science behind the spectacle: Earth’s path around the Sun isn’t a perfect circle — it’s a gentle ellipse. That means the distance between the two constantly shifts through the year. Around January 3-4, Earth swings closest to the Sun (Perihelion), making it look just a touch bigger and brighter. Then, over six months, the gap steadily widens until it peaks — usually around July 4, though this year the honour falls on July 6. At sunrise today, the Sun will be a precise 15,20,87,706 km away, Dod revealed.
The effect? The Sun may look smaller and softer at sunrise and sunset today — almost deceptively gentle. But don’t be fooled: as it climbs higher, its intensity returns, and Dod warns against staring directly at it, monsoon haze or not — the risk to your eyes remains real.
The numbers are wild: the Earth-Sun gap swings by more than 50 lakh km between Perihelion and Aphelion. And because light itself isn’t instant, today’s extra distance means sunlight takes about 17 seconds longer than usual to complete its 15-crore-km journey to your eyes. Locally, expect sunrise at 5:47 am and sunset at 7:07 pm — a 13-hour, 20-minute day. The Vishwabharati Centre is urging skywatchers not to miss this quiet but remarkable cosmic milestone — it only happens once a year.
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