Earth's orbit is slightly elliptical, meaning it's not a perfect circle. This means:
* Perihelion: Earth is closest to the Sun around January 3rd, at a distance of about 91.4 million miles (147.1 million kilometers).
* Aphelion: Earth is farthest from the Sun around July 4th, at a distance of about 94.5 million miles (152.1 million kilometers).
The difference in distance between these two points is about 3.1 million miles (5 million kilometers), which might seem like a lot, but it's only about a 3% variation. The elliptical shape of Earth's orbit is also the reason why we have slightly longer summers in the Northern Hemisphere than winters.
