SOLUTION: The Earth traces an elliptical path (with eccentricity e=0.017) around the sun. If the sun is at one of the foci and the length of half the major axis is 93 million miles, estimate

Question 80405: The Earth traces an elliptical path (with eccentricity e=0.017) around the sun. If the sun is at one of the foci and the length of half the major axis is 93 million miles, estimate the shortest distance between the earth and the sun.
Answer by stanbon(75887) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The Earth traces an elliptical path (with eccentricity e=0.017) around the sun. If the sun is at one of the foci and the length of half the major axis is 93 million miles, estimate the shortest distance between the earth and the sun.
---------
That is call apogee.
Half the major axis is "a".
The distance of the focus from the center is "c" and c=ae.
So apogee = a-ae or a(1-e)
Your Problem:
apogee or perihelion is 93x10^6(1-0.017)=91.419x10^6 miles
=========
PS: You can look this up with a Google search of "sun earth apogee"
Cheers,
Stan H.
RELATED QUESTIONS
The orbit of the earth around the sun is elliptical in shape with the sun at one focus... (answered by ikleyn)

The orbit of the earth around the sun is elliptical in shape with the sun at one focus... (answered by greenestamps,ikleyn)

the orbit of mercury around the sun forms an ellipse with eccentricity 0.206,length of... (answered by Alan3354)

The orbit of Earth around the sun is in the shape of an ellipse where the sun is at one... (answered by ikleyn,rothauserc)

please help me solve this type of problem :A satellite orbits around the earth in an... (answered by Edwin McCravy)

the orbit of mercury around the sun forms an ellipse with eccentricity 0.206,length of... (answered by ValorousDawn)

The Earth's orbit is an ellipse with the sun at one of the foci. If the semi-major axis... (answered by ikleyn,richwmiller)

Mars orbits the sun in an elliptical path whose distance from the sun is 140 million... (answered by ikleyn)

Please help! Like all planets Jupiter has an elliptical orbit, with the centre of the... (answered by venugopalramana)