The Earth\'s orbit around the Sun is a highly eccentric ellipse, so the distance

Question

The Earth's orbit around the Sun is a highly eccentric ellipse, so the distance between Earth and Sun varies dramatically over the course of a year. The largest contributor to the Earth's seasons is the tilt, or inclination, of the Earth's spin axis with respect to its orbital plane (the ecliptic). The seasons are caused by the change in the distance between the Earth and the Sun. Earth is the only planet that experiences seasons. Planets with tilt angles greater than the Earth's will experience seasons that are longer than the Earth's seasons.

Explanation / Answer

ANSWER:

Planets with tilt angles greater than the earth's will experience seasons that are longer than the earth's seasons

Planets with smaller tilts might have smaller weather variations; planets with larger tilts could have more extreme variations.

Our orbit is nearly circular, so there is little variation in Earth's overall climate, averaged over both northern and southern hemispheres. But other planets have more elliptical orbits, and therefore their seasonal variations in weather are much different than what we experience.

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