The sun will appear larger in the sky than on any other day in 2026 on Jan. 3, as our planet reaches its closest point to our parent star in its 365-day orbit during 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 isn't a perfect circle, but rather takes the form of an ellipse, or oval, which sees Earth's distance from the sun vary by approximately 3% as it progresses through its yearly orbit.
