Curiosity › Science › Physics › Is the earth drifting away from the Sun? › Reply To: Is the earth drifting away from the Sun?
I’m not sure about your question. If you are asking about the position of Earth right now, the answer is both. Earth’s orbit is elliptical. So the earth moves closer to the sun at its orbit’s perihelion (closest point) and away from sun at the aphelion(farthest point). Right now, the earth is approaching towards its aphelion.
Earth is about 147.1 million kilometers from the Sun at perihelion in early January, in contrast to about 152.1 million kilometers at aphelion in early July.
If your question is about the orbital drift, the answer is yes, the earth is getting away from sun, but very slowly. At the sun’s core, the nuclear fusion is constantly converting the mass of the sun into energy. As this happens over a period of time, the sun will lose mass and eventually affect the earth’s orbit by expanding it. A rough estimate is around 1.5 to 2cm per year.