Earth is closest to the Sun every year in early January, during the Northern Hemispheres winter. This closest Earth-Sun distance is called perihelion, and it occurs when Earth is about 3% closer to the Sun than it is during its farthest point, or aphelion, in early July. In 2023, Earth was closest to the Sun on January 4 at 11:17 am EST. The average Earth-Sun distance is about 93 million miles (150 million km) . Earths orbit around the Sun is not a perfect circle, but rather an ellipse, which means that Earth has closest and farthest points from the Sun each year.