The Seasons

The seasons are caused by the tilt of Earth's axis (23.4) and not by the fact that
Earth's orbit around the Sun is an ellipse. The average distance of Earth from
the Sun is 93 million miles; the difference between aphelion (farthest away
from the Sun) and perihelion (closest to the Sun) is 3 million miles, so that
perihelion is about 91.4 million miles from the Sun. Earth goes through the
perihelion point a few days after New Year's Day, just when the Northern
Hemisphere has winter. Aphelion is passed during the first days of July. This
by itself shows that the distance from the Sun is not important within these
limits. What is important is that when Earth passes through perihelion, the
northern end of Earth's axis happens to tilt away from the Sun, so that the areas
beyond the Tropic of Cancer receive only slanting rays from a Sun low in the
sky.

The tilt of Earth's axis is responsible for four lines you find on every globe.
When, say, the North Pole is tilted away from the Sun as much as possible, the
farthest points in the North that can still be reached by the Sun's rays are 23.5
from the pole. This is the Arctic Circle. The Antarctic Circle is the
corresponding limit 23.4 from the South Pole; the Sun's rays cannot reach
beyond this point when we have midsummer in the North.

When the Sun is vertically above the equator, the day is of equal length all over
Earth. This happens twice a year, and these are the equinoxes in March and
in September. After having been over the equator in March, the Sun will seem
to move northward. The northernmost point where the Sun can be straight
overhead is 23.4 north of the equator. This is the Tropic of Cancer; the Sun
can never be vertically overhead to the north of this line. Similarly the Sun
cannot be vertically overhead to the south of a line 23.4 south of the equator
the Tropic of Capricorn.

This explains the climatic zones. In the belt (the Greek word zone means
belt) between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, the Sun can
be straight overhead; this is the tropical zone. The two zones where the Sun
cannot be overhead but will be above the horizon every day of the year are the
two temperate zones; the two areas where the Sun will not rise at all for
varying lengths of time are the two polar areas, Arctic and Antarctic.