Learning about one’s zodiac and the three big signs is the initial step in knowing astrology and how it affects our lives. If you want to understand your life better, you need to turn your attention skyward, as planetary transits, retrogrades and other cosmic events majorly shape our existence in the current dimension. Just as Earth is set to station itself farthest from the Sun, let’s look at this significant celestial event called aphelion, the corresponding perihelion occurring annually in our home planet’s orbit and their effect on zodiac signs.
What is aphelion and perihelion?
To put it simply, aphelion is a point in the Earth’s elliptical orbit, which is farthest from the Sun. It happens exactly two weeks after the June solstice during the summer months experienced in the Northern Hemisphere. During the aphelion in 2024, Earth will be approximately 152,099,968 kilometres away from the Sun.
Earth’s perihelion occurs at the point at which our planet is the closest to the Sun in its orbit. This phenomenon is generally witnessed two weeks after the winter solstice. Both words are derived from the Latin language where helios means ‘Sun’, apo means ‘far’ and peri means ‘near’.
Know all about the 12 Zodiac signs, their personality traits, compatibility and more
According to NASA, Kepler’s second law defines this event as such, “The imaginary line joining a planet and the Sun sweeps equal areas of space during equal time intervals as the planet orbits. That planets do not move with constant speed along their orbits. Rather, their speed varies so that the line joining the centres of the Sun and the planet sweeps out equal parts of an area at equal times. The point of nearest approach of the planet to the Sun is termed perihelion. The point of greatest separation is aphelion, hence by Kepler’s Second Law, a planet is moving fastest when it is at perihelion and slowest at aphelion.”
The timing of these celestial occurrences is generally similar as there is only a minor change in the Earth’s orbit caused by gravitational influences of other celestial bodies like the Moon and other planets.
When is the next aphelion and perihelion occurring in Singapore?
Aphelion is set to take place on 5 July 2024 at 1.06 am EST, which is around 1.06 pm SGT on the same day. This year’s perihelion was in January and the next one will occur on 4 January 2025 at 8.28 am EST, which is — 8.28 pm SGT.
Do aphelion and perihelion affect seasons? Image credit: Ethan Robertson/Unsplash
It is rather interesting to note that although aphelion and perihelion occur when the Earth is far and near the Sun in its orbit, respectively, it does not affect the seasons on the planet. One of the major reasons for this is that seasons are determined by the Earth’s axis tilt and not by its distance from the Sun.
Another reason is that the difference in the Earth’s distance from the Sun during aphelion and perihelion is approximately 5 million kilometres, which is less in the case of perihelion and more in the case of aphelion by only three per cent of the Sun-Earth standard distance. This is insignificant to create any weather changes on Earth.
Are these cosmic events astrologically relevant? Image credit: Brett Ritchie/Unsplash
Aphelion and perihelion do not have exceptional astrological significance because they move very slowly and their effect on zodiacs is thus minimal. If one looks at the sky on 5 July particularly, the New Moon and the Sun are in the sign of Cancer, which would fill the zodiac’s lives with domestic comfort and peace.
During the next perihelion, the Sun will be in the taskmaster sign of Capricorn, which would demand obedience, discipline and seriousness from the zodiacs.
Conclusion
It is safe to say that aphelion and perihelion are astronomical events that affect the distance between the Earth and the Sun. The astrological ramifications of these events specifically are not tremendous, with little effect on the lives of the zodiac signs.
(Hero and Featured image credit: Jaka Škrlep/Unsplash)
Source link : https://www.lifestyleasia.com/sg/astrology/zodiacs/perihelion-and-aphelion-differences-dates-effects/amp/
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Publish date : 2024-07-07 03:00:00
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