About the Author. Lincoln Peirce began creating comics in the 6th grade (just like Big Nate!). He went on to teach art at a New York City High School. Lincoln created the cartoon-strip character Big Nate in 1991, naming the character after a nickname he gave his older brother as a kid.
Sidereal year, from one time a particular star is in a given position to the next time 365.25636 days. Anomalistic year, from the time the Earth is at its closest to the Sun to the next time 365.25964 days. What causes the seasons? The Earth in southern summer and winter. The short answer is the tilt of the Earth or put more impressively, the obliquity of the ecliptic. The axis of the Earth is tilted by 23.4 degrees to the plane in which it travels around the Sun, the ecliptic.
Earth orbits the Sun at an average distance of about 150 million kilometers every 365.2564 mean solar days, or one sidereal year. This gives an apparent movement of the Sun eastward with respect to the stars at a rate of about 1Â°/day, which is one apparent Sun or Moon diameter every 12 hours.