If the sun was closer...?

Question

On a regular basis, how hotter would the earth be if the sun was a mile closer to us? Would it be hot enough to kill plant life? I mean, just now by looking up at the sun, you feel the heat in your face! Imagine if it was a mile closer!

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THANKS!

Answer 1

one mile wouldn't make much difference..

The earth is not closer to us in the winter, equinox.

Answer 2

the earth's orbit is an ellipse and varies by FAR more than a mile throughout the year.  The difference of one mile would be like LA being 3 inches closer to New York City.

Answer 3

The distance of one mile is insignificant when considering the Earth varies some 3,240,000 in it's orbit around the sun.  The earth tilts some 23.5 degrees every 6 months which changes the earths local weather and temperature by some 60 to 70 degrees.  That being in the temperate zones and in the polar circles by some 70 to 80 degrees.  The sun is getting hotter by about  5% every billion years, the surface temperature is some 6000 K at present.  So every 3,000,000 earth years the sun is going up 1 degree of temperature at present.

As for plant life if the tilt were to vary 45 degrees then earths plant life would be more spars than a deserts because of the difference in temperature and water vapor.  Watch the BBC broadcasts coming up this Sunday.

Answer 4

Very little.  The Earth ranges from between 91 and 94.5 million miles from the sun, so it's already over 3 million miles closer at some times than it is at others.  One more mile would make no difference at all.

Answer 5

I don't think it would really affect us that much

Answer 6

We would barely feel the change

Answer 7

One mile wouldn't make any difference.  Even a thousand miles wouldn't make any difference.

The Earth's orbit is not a perfect circle, so it is anywhere from about 94 million miles at its farthest from the sun, to about 91 million miles at its closest.

The difference is about 3 million miles, so one mile or a thousand wouldn't make any difference to the heat we get from the sun.

Answer 8

no major effect

Answer 9

It would be hotter but not enough to kill all plant life. Some would die out and the cooler climate plants would adapt.

Answer 10

One mile would hardly make any difference.   It is closer to earth in winter already by a lot more than a mile.

Edit:   For Mr's information.   The earth is indeed closer in the Northern Hemisphere's winter, starting with the equinox.    The closest distance is about 0.98 AU (about 93 million miles) and the greatest distance is about 1.02 AU.    That is a big difference in terms of miles.