The largest sun of 2026 rises today as Earth draws closest to our parent star
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The sun captured during perihelion in the sky over Yinchuan, China, January 2024. | Credit: Photo by Yuan Hongyan/VCG via Getty Images
The sun will appear larger in the sky than any other day in 2026 on January 3, as our planet reaches its closest point to our parent star in its 365-day orbit in an event known to astronomers as perihelion.
Earth orbits the sun at an average distance of 93 million miles (150 million kilometers), a distance known as 1 astronomical unit. However, our planet’s path around its star is not a perfect circle, but rather takes the shape of an ellipse, or oval, which sees Earth’s distance from the sun vary by about 3% as it progresses through its annual orbit.
The moment of perihelion – our closest approach to the sun in 2026 – will occur at 12:15 p.m. EST (5:15 p.m. GMT) on January 3, when our Blue marble will pass 91,498,806 miles (147,253,054 km) from our parent star.
At that time, the sun would appear slightly larger when viewed through a telescope equipped with a quality solar filter, compared to how it would appear at its farthest point from the sun, called aphelion, when we are separated by an additional 5 million kilometers.
However, this difference is very slight, the sun having an angular size of 32 arc minutes and 31 arcseconds at perihelion compared to 31 arcminutes and 27 arcseconds at aphelion, according to In the sky. The slight decrease in our distance from the sun also has no appreciable effect on Earth’s temperature or the passage of seasons, which is due to the 23.4 degree tilt of Earth’s axis of rotation relative to our orbit around the sun.
Remember, it’s Never safely look at the sun with the naked eye or through an ordinary telescope, binoculars or other optical equipment, as this can cause instant and permanent vision loss.
Editor’s Note: If you have the specialized equipment needed to safely capture an image of the sun during perihelion and would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com readers, please send your photo(s), comments, and name and location to spacephotos@space.com.
