To understand the basic cause of the seasons and address a common misconception

Question

To understand the basic cause of the seasons and address a common misconception by showing that seasons are not related to Earth's varying distance from the Sun.

Introduction. Earth’s orbit around the Sun is elliptical (rather than circular), which means the Earth–Sun distance varies over the course of each year. The following table gives the Earth–Sun distance at the equinoxes and solstices:

Part A

Refer to the data in the introduction. Rank the seasons for the Northern Hemisphere based on Earth’s distance from the Sun when each season begins, from closest to farthest.

Time of Year Earth–Sun Distance March (northern spring) equinox 149.0 million km June (northern summer) solstice 152.0 million km September (northern fall) equinox 150.2 million km December (northern winter) solstice 147.2 million km

Explanation / Answer

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.

so answer is

December (northern winter) solstice

March (northern spring) equinox

September (northern fall) equinox

June (northern summer) solstice

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