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Ephemeris: 01/05/2026 – We just passed perihelion… Can’t you feel the warmth?

January 5, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Monday, January 5th. Today the Sun will be up for 8 hours and 57 minutes, setting at 5:16, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:19. The Moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 8:10 this evening.

While we were busy with other matters, several astronomical events happened over the weekend. First, on Friday we had our latest sunrise, so our lengthening days are beginning to show up in the morning now. On Saturday the Earth passed perihelion, that is its closest point in its orbit to the Sun. That doesn’t make things any warmer, but it does make winter the shortest season by about four days shorter than summer. Not that you could tell in Northern Michigan. The distance of the Earth from the Sun is still hanging around 91.4 million miles. The earth is moving faster so we move through winter quicker. Also, there was a meteor shower, the Quadrantids, which peaked on Saturday, but was pretty much wiped out by the full moon.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

This is a diagram of the true shape of the Earth’s orbit
This is a diagram of the true shape of the Earth’s orbit and position of the Sun showing aphelion and perihelion for the year 2024. The dates do vary by up to a couple of days each year as do the distances a little bit, but it’s lost in rounding. The date difference is a bit more than the date change of the solstices and equinoxes year to year. For 2026 the perihelion date was January 3rd, and the aphelion date will be July 6th. Created using my LookingUp app, LibreOffice Draw for captions, and GIMP.
Categories: Concepts, Earth, Ephemeris Program, Seasons Tags: