The Earth’s Orbit
Run as nine dents that add, the planets turn the Earth’s nearest point 1162.5 arcseconds a century and shrink its stretch by 0.0000429 a century, against 1163.8 and 0.0000439 published. Jupiter does most of it.
The Sun’s centre wanders up to 1.48 million km, more than twice its own radius, but the Earth moves with it: measured from the Sun, the Earth’s nearest approach changes by 74,000 km from year to year.
In plain terms
The Earth’s path round the Sun is very nearly a circle, slightly stretched. It is closest in early January and farthest in early July, and the sunlight is a little stronger in January because of it. The seasons come from the tilt of the Earth, not the distance.
The stretched path slowly turns, and the other planets’ dents turn it — Jupiter most of all. A computer running the Sun and all the planets as dents that add gives the same turning that is measured, to within a fraction of a per cent.
The Sun is not fixed either. The big planets move it about, more than twice its own width. But the Earth moves with it, the way the Earth and the Moon move round the Sun together, so the Sun’s wandering hardly changes the distance between them.
What this memo does and does not do
It runs the Sun and all eight planets as summed dents, the method of E.4, and reads the Earth’s orbit off the run: the turning of its nearest point, the change in its stretch, and whether the Sun’s wandering centre matters.
The Earth’s axis wobble, which moves the calendar against the stars, is not modelled; its measured rate is used. The Moon is folded into the Earth.
1. The Earth’s Nearest Point
In 2026 the Earth was nearest the Sun on 3 January, at 147.1 million km, and farthest on 6 July, at 152.1 million km. At the nearest point 6.9 % more sunlight reaches the Earth than at the farthest. The seasons come from the tilt of the Earth’s axis, not from this distance: the Southern Hemisphere has its summer at the nearest point, the Northern its winter.
The date is not fixed. It can move a day or two either way from one year to the next, and over centuries it creeps later. In 1246 the nearest point fell on the December solstice; it now falls about two weeks after it.
2. Why The Date Drifts
Two turnings add. The Earth’s stretched orbit turns against the stars — the part the dents give, section 3. And the calendar is tied to the seasons, which move against the stars because the Earth’s axis wobbles like a top.
| Turning, arcseconds a year | Rate | From |
|---|---|---|
| The orbit’s nearest point, against the stars | 11.6 | the dents, section 3 |
| The seasons, against the stars | 50.3 | measured; the axis wobble |
| The nearest point, against the calendar | 61.9 | the two added |
Near its nearest point the Earth moves about 3,670 arcseconds a day, so a shift of 61.9 a year moves the date one day in about 59 years. The published drift is one day in about 58.
3. Every Planet’s Dent
The Sun and the eight planets were run as nine dents that add, for a thousand years, from their positions at the start of 2000. Each planet was also run alone with the Sun and the Earth, to see its share.
| From the dents | Published | |
|---|---|---|
| Turning of the nearest point, arcseconds a century | 1162.5 | 1163.8, of which relativity’s share is 3.8 |
| With the steeper Sun dent of E.4 added | 1166.4 | 1163.8 |
| Change in stretch, per century | −0.0000429 | −0.0000439 |
| Nearest and farthest distance | 147.13 and 152.07 million km | 147.10 and 152.09 million km |
Jupiter, 704; Venus, 349; Mars, 98; Saturn, 19. Mercury turns it backwards, 14.
4. The Stretch
The Earth’s eccentricity is 0.0167 now and shrinking, 0.0000429 a century in the run. Over long spans the planets’ dents swing it up and down: its largest cycle, 405,000 years, comes from Venus and Jupiter, and the total swing is about 0.063. When the stretch is larger the difference between January and July sunlight is larger.
5. The Sun’s Centre Wanders
The Sun is pushed by the planets’ dents as the planets are by its. Its centre circles the solar system’s balance point on a path set mostly by Jupiter and Saturn:
| Measured from | Earth’s nearest distance, change from year to year |
|---|---|
| The solar system’s balance point | 2.75 million km |
| The Sun’s centre | 74,000 km |
The Earth moves with the Sun. Jupiter’s gradient at the Sun is 2.09 × 10−7 m/s²; at the Earth it differs from that by at most 1.11 × 10−7 — 1.9 parts in 100,000 of the Sun’s hold on the Earth. The shared part moves the Earth and the Sun together and does nothing to the distance between them. The difference is what turns the Earth’s nearest point, and it is already counted in section 3.
The Sun’s wandering is real and large. It does not change the Earth’s orbit about the Sun, for the same reason the Sun does not pull the Moon away from the Earth.
6. What This Settles, And What It Does Not
SettledThe dents give the Earth’s orbit
Summed dents give the turning of the Earth’s nearest point to within 0.2 % and the change in its stretch to within 2.5 %. The Sun’s wandering centre is shared by the Earth and does not change the distance between them.
Not modelled here
The axis wobble that moves the seasons, 50.3 arcseconds a year, is used as measured; it comes from the Sun and Moon acting on the Earth’s bulge.
The Moon. The run treats the Earth and Moon as one body at their balance point. The Earth’s centre circles that point at 4,671 km every month, one reason the date of the nearest point moves a day or two from year to year.
7. What The Dents Have Matched
This memo is one of four that test summed dents against measurement. Taken together:
| Memo | Tested against | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1.12 | Newton’s law; the Moon’s fall, from its period | exact; within 0.008 % |
| 5.20 | every classical term of the Moon’s motion | within a few parts in a thousand |
| E.4 | Mercury’s perihelion, from the planets | 528.8″ against about 532″ |
| E.4 | the remaining 43″, and Venus, the Earth and Mars | one number, set on Mercury; the other three within 1–2 % |
| 5.21 | the Earth’s perihelion turning and change in stretch | within 0.2 % and 2.5 % |
What the matches do and do not show
The summed dents are Newton’s arithmetic, so these matches confirm the dent method; they do not separate it from Newton’s law.
The steeper dent near the Sun has the same size as relativity’s correction, so perihelion measurements alone do not separate the Aether from curved space.
Starlight bending past the Sun, 1.75″, is not yet matched. It is where the two can first give different numbers — E.2 Eddington 1919.
8. The Numbers
In summary, the figures behind the argument:
- Nearest the Sun 3 January 2026, 147.1 million km; farthest 6 July, 152.1 million km; 6.9 % more sunlight at the nearest.
- Turning of the nearest point from the dents: 1162.5″ a century (11.6″ a year); published 1163.8.
- Shares: Jupiter 704, Venus 349, Mars 98, Saturn 19, Mercury −14.
- Change in stretch: −0.0000429 a century; published −0.0000439.
- Date drift: 61.9″ a year against the calendar, one day in about 58 years; on the December solstice in 1246.
- The Sun’s centre strays up to 1.48 million km (2.13 solar radii); the Earth’s nearest distance from the Sun changes 74,000 km a year.
Terms Used Here
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Dent | The lowered pressure a mass makes in the Aether around it. |
| Perihelion, aphelion | A planet’s nearest and farthest points from the Sun. |
| Eccentricity | How stretched an orbit is: 0 is a circle. |
| Balance point | The point the Sun and planets circle together, weighted by their masses. |
| Solstice | The day the Sun is farthest north or south in the sky, set by the Earth’s tilt. |
Sources
- Perihelion and aphelion dates and distances, 2025–2029 (timeanddate.com); the 1246 coincidence and the drift of one day in about 58 years (EarthSky; StarDate). Checked 21 September 2026.
- E. M. Standish, Keplerian Elements for Approximate Positions of the Major Planets (JPL): starting positions for 2000, and the published rates of the Earth’s perihelion and eccentricity. Carried as reported.
- J. Laskar et al., “A long-term numerical solution for the insolation quantities of the Earth”, Astronomy & Astrophysics 428 (2004): the 405,000-year eccentricity cycle and its total swing. Checked 21 September 2026.
- The dent run: the Sun and eight planets as summed dents, a thousand years. The script, earth-dent-proof.py, reproduces every figure here.
Where this sits in the series
The dent method, run on the planets.
- 5.20 — The Moon From the Dents Alone — Three bodies.
- E.4 — Mercury’s Perihelion — Every planet, read for Mercury.
- 5.21 — The Earth’s Orbit — This memo.