Earth’s poles moving as it orbits (definition)

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I know that in the winter equinox the axis is as far away from the sun as it’s going to get. Each day after that it moves closer towards the sun. What is it called ? Sunward, that a way?

In: Planetary Science

4 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

O is the sun, / is the Earth’s axis

Northern hemisphere summer

/ O

The north pole is tilted toward the sun, and the south pole is tilted away. The exact day is the solstice, and the Southern hemisphere is in winter.

6 months later, the Northern hemisphere winter

O /

The Earth is still tilted the same way, but it’s now on the other side of the sun. Now the North is in winter, and the South is in summer.

In between are the equinoxes

Ø

The Earth is still tilted, but from this side view diagram I’m drawing, the Earth is in front of or behind the sun. Neither pole is tilted towards or away from the sun, but the axis is still tilted.

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