The most common misconception about perihelion is that distance from the sun dictates our seasons. If Earth is closest to the sun in January, shouldn't the entire planet experience summer?

A: No. Earth’s orbit is stable. The distance at perihelion remains roughly the same over human timescales.

The Earth's orbit around the Sun is not a perfect circle, but rather an ellipse. This means that the distance between our planet and the Sun varies throughout the year. At its closest point, the Earth is about 91.5 million miles (147 million kilometers) away from the Sun, and at its farthest point, it is approximately 94.5 million miles (152 million kilometers) away. But when exactly is the Earth closest to the Sun?

Kepler's laws dictate that Earth orbits the Sun in an ellipse, not a perfect circle.