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Show Why New Year Starts In Middle of Winter Why does the year start in the middle of winter? Perhaps the most valid reason is that the first day of January is conveniently con-veniently near an annually recurring recur-ring celestial landmark the earth's perihelion, or point of closest approach ap-proach to the sun. It's a fact that in the dead of the northern winter, due to our planet's elliptical orbit we are a few hundred miles closer to the solar disk than on the hottest day in summer. New Year day doesn't exactly hit the mark. On or about January 4 the center of gravity of the earth-moon earth-moon system is nearest the center of gravity of the sun. That is, two imaginary points are closest together. togeth-er. One is at approximately the center cen-ter of the sun and remains constant through the ages. One is about 2,000 miles below the surface of the earth. |