AST101H1 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Ecliptic, Tidal Locking, Lunar Phase

• School: UTSG
• Department: Astronomy & Astrophysics
• Course: AST101H1
• Professor: Stefan Mochnacki

Document Summary

many people guess that seasons are caused by variations in earth"s distance from the sun, but if that were the case, we"d expect it to be warmest (summer) when earth is closest to the sun. As you can see in the rankings, earth is actually farthest from the sun when it is summer in the northern hemisphere. We conclude that variations in the earth-sun distance from are not the major cause of our seasons. The fact that the two hemispheres have opposite seasons is further proof that the seasons are not caused by. As you"ve already seen in parts a and b, seasons on earth are not affected by the variation in earth"s orbital distance over the course of each year. This is probably not too surprising when you realize that earth always stays within about 3 percent of its average distance from the sun. Other factors are much more important in creating the seasons.