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The ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus noted the apsidal precession of the Moon's orbit (as the revolution of the Moon's apogee with a period of approximately 8.85 years); [4] it is corrected for in the Antikythera Mechanism (circa 80 BCE) (with the supposed value of 8.88 years per full cycle, correct to within 0.34% of current measurements). [5]
The apsides refer to the farthest (2) and nearest (3) points reached by an orbiting planetary body (2 and 3) with respect to a primary, or host, body (1). An apsis (from Ancient Greek ἁψίς (hapsís) 'arch, vault'; pl. apsides / ˈ æ p s ɪ ˌ d iː z / AP-sih-deez) [1] [2] is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body.
The Earth spends less time near perihelion and more time near aphelion. This means that the lengths of the seasons vary. [ 14 ] Perihelion currently occurs around 3 January, so the Earth's greater velocity shortens winter and autumn in the northern hemisphere, and summer and spring in the southern hemisphere.
The dates of perihelion and aphelion progres through the seasons, making one complete cycle in 22,000 to 26,000 years. This is a mechanism behind one of the many Milankovitch cycles, but represents an insufficient period to cause the ice ages which occur on a period exceeding 100 million years .
An object with an e of between 0 and 1 will have an elliptical orbit, with, for instance, an object with an e of 0.5 having a perihelion twice as close to the Sun as its aphelion. As an object's e approaches 1, its orbit will be more and more elongated before, and at e =1, the object's orbit will be parabolic and unbound to the Solar System (i ...
Common orbital subgroups of Near-Earth Objects (NEOs). Atira asteroids / ə ˈ t ɪr ə / or Apohele asteroids, also known as interior-Earth objects (IEOs), are Near-Earth objects whose orbits are entirely confined within Earth's orbit; [1] that is, their orbit has an aphelion (farthest point from the Sun) smaller than Earth's perihelion (nearest point to the Sun), which is 0.983 astronomical ...
It does now explain exactly what causes the seasons. You are correct that it has nothing to do with perihelion and aphelion; and in the Northern Hemisphere, is even counterintuitive. Spike-from-NH 02:37, 7 November 2016 (UTC) PS--I've now rewritten it further, following your suggestion, to reduce the text that is unrelated to perihelion.
They are Earth-crossing asteroids that have an orbital semi-major axis greater than that of the Earth (a > 1 AU) but perihelion distances less than the Earth's aphelion distance (q < 1.017 AU). [ 1 ] [ 2 ]