How does the orbit of a planet relate to the seasons?

Answer 1

While the Earth's orbit is an ellipse rather and a perfect circle, the eccentricity is fairly low, so not much of the seasonal weather changes are due to it. Most of the seasonal changes that we see each year are due to the fact that the Earth is tilted by 23.5 degrees from our orbit.

So we have summer where the Earth is tilted toward the sun, and winter where the Earth is tilted away from it.

Answer 2

When the Earth orbits the sun, it also spins around. A year is determined from how long it takes for the Earth to make a full orbit, which means going all the way around the sun. As the Earth travels around the sun, there are seasons because the Earth rotates, and, as it travels, each hemisphere's distance from the sun varies. This is also because the Earth is sightly pear-shaped and because it tilts. So if it is winter in North America, it is summer in Australia. That's because of what I mentioned earlier, and since Australia is on two completely opposite hemispheres (Eastern and Southern) than North America, (Western and Northern) it's always a different time of year in both. Another thing that is caused by the Earth's rotation are days, which are pretty simple to explain. Since the Earth is always spinning, the sun appears to be changing direction, which is why early Egyptians and astronomers thought the other planets revolved around the Earth. The Earth manages to spin around very quickly, even though we don't feel it. There are 365 and 1/4 days in a year, or more precisely, the Earth rotates 365 1/4 times in a complete orbit around the sun.

Answer 3

The Earth's tilt on its axis and the Earth's revolution around the sun are why we have seasons in the temperate zone. As Earth revolves the sun, the Earth receives different amounts of the sun's energy due to Earth's tilt. In the Northern Hemisphere, when the Earth is tilted toward the sun we experience summer. When the Earth is tilted away from the sun, we experience winter.

Answer 4

Good question. The seasons as we know them can be related to any object in "space". Only if an object, such as the Earth, rotates around its central axis, will have first; night and day, second, if its orbit around a star (TheSun) is not a perfect circle, the object will be colder when it is furthest from the sun and warmer when closer. Finally, if the object's spin, and again using Earth as an example, wobbles at all, through one orbit around its star, you get four seasons. In the northern half of Earth, when the spin has us moving to "point forward" towards the sun, it changes from spring to summer, as the wobble takes us tilting "away" from the sun, it turns to autumn and winter. The reverse is true in the Southern Hemisphere.

Cheers.

Answer 5

well its not just the orbit it also has to do with the tilt of earth. And i cant explain. I mean i know but its difficult to explain so here, my gift to you. here is the URL: http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=O9hawBb3wbk

Answer 6

Only at a very specific speed will a planet move around the Sun in an exact circle. If it moves slower, for example, it will not have enough momentum to maintain the circular orbit, and will move closer to the Sun. However, after half an orbit, when it is closer to the Sun, it will be so fast that it will move away from it again.

Answer 7

No planet has a circular orbit. All closed orbits are ellipses, with the sun at one focus of the ellipse.

That point is not the center, it's some distance away from the center. So the planet ... or comet or

asteroid ... is at different distances from the sun at different points in the orbit.

Here's how to draw an ellipse on paper:

-- Take two thumb-tacks. Stick them into a piece of cardboard a couple of inches apart.

-- Take a piece of string maybe 18 inches long. Tie the ends together so you have a loop.

-- Set the loop of string down on the cardboard, so the two thumb-tacks are inside the loop.

-- Take a pencil. Set the point down on the cardboard, inside the loop. Draw everything up snug,

so the loop fits snug against the two thumb-tacks and the pencil point.

-- With the pencil-point down on the cardboard, draw around a big closed line, keeping the string snug.

The snugged-up string keeps the pencil point going in the right direction.

The line you draw on the cardboard is an ellipse. Each thumb-tack is at one 'focus' of the ellipse.

The farther apart they are, the more 'eccentric' (egg-shaped) the ellipse is. If they were both at

the same point, then the line would be a circle.

The sun is at one focus, and the planet travels in the elliptical orbit. You can see that the planet's

distance from the sun changes at different points in the orbit.

Why ? Because that's the way gravity works.

Answer 8

It isn't the orbit of the planet but mostly the planets tilt.

Earth is tilted about 23.5 degrees.

Think of it as a slash / and the sun as a 0. Lets say you live more towards the top of the "slash". If you live near the top of the earth then it will be summer when the earth orbits so that you are closer to the sun, while at the bottom of the Earth it is winter. Picture this / 0.... This would be summer for you. Then the Earth orbits around the sun..... 0 /. When it is winter you are angled away from the sun, hence receiving less heat and radiation. Hope this helps. While in the summer you are angled toward the sun. If you are located near the center of the Earth or on the equator, then you stay pretty much the same angle all year round.

Answer 9

The Earth's elliptical orbit around the Sun has almost NO effect on the seasons, in terms of the slight variations in distance between the Earth and Sun.

Earth's seasons are caused by the "tilt" of the Earth's axis away from the perpendicular to the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun.

When one hemisphere is "tilted towards the Sun", it is summer in that part of the world.

The orbit isimportant because it means different hemispheres are tilted "towards " the Sun at different times of the year.

Answer 10

Yes. Seasons on earth are not the result of variations in the distance to/from the sun.

People in the northern hemisphere can prove that right away, by considering that the

earth is closest to the sun a few days after New Year's, about 2 weeks after the beginning

of Winter !

The seasons are the result of the rotation axis being non-perpendicular to the plane of

the earth's orbit around the sun.