ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Perihelion and aphelion

Okay, so you know how the Earth goes around the Sun, right? Well, sometimes it gets really close to the Sun and sometimes it gets really far away. When it gets really close, that's called "perihelion" and when it gets really far away, that's called "aphelion".

Imagine you're playing a game of tag with someone. You run around and around in a big circle, and the other person tries to tag you. When you get close to the other person, that's like perihelion - you are very close together. And when you run really far away from the other person, that's like aphelion - you are very far apart.

For Earth and the Sun, perihelion happens in January and aphelion happens in July. But don't worry, the distance between the Earth and the Sun doesn't change too much - it only varies by about 3% from perihelion to aphelion.