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.
The Sun, Earth, and the entire solar system also are in motion, orbiting the center of the Milky Way at a blazing 140 miles a second. Even at this great speed, though, our planetary neighborhood still takes about 200 million years to make one complete orbit -- a testament to the vast size of our home galaxy.