![]() Then, as the Earth continues to orbit around the sun, the amount of sunlight the Northern Hemisphere receives gradually decreases as the Northern Hemisphere tilts away from the sun. So, the Northern Hemisphere experiences more intense sunlight during the summer, when the sun is positioned more directly above the Northern Hemisphere. ![]() This small misalignment, called an obliquity, is around 23 degrees from vertical for Earth. But Earth isn't perfectly aligned on its axis. Since seasons come from variations in how much sunlight reaches the planet's surface, a planet that's perfectly aligned wouldn't have seasons. When a planet has perfect alignment between the axis it orbits on and the rotational axis, the amount of sunlight it receives is fixed as it orbits around the sun-assuming its orbital shape is a circle. The magnitude of that tilt can even determine whether a planet is habitable to life. That slight tilt has big implications for everything from seasons to glacier cycles. The rotational axis that Earth spins on, along the North and South poles, isn't quite aligned with the vertical axis perpendicular to Earth's orbit around the sun. Throughout my research, I've found that Earth's regular pattern of seasons is unique. ![]() ![]() I'm an astrophysicist who studies the movement of planets and the causes of seasons. ![]()
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