Earth Reaches Its Farthest point from the Sun this Year

July 5, 2012, Thursday, at exactly 12 a.m. EDT (0400 GMT), our planet reached its farthest point from the sun. This phenomenon that takes place every year is called aphelion in astronomical terms.
Because the orbit of the Earth around the sun is elliptical, The Earth has its farthest point and nearest point from the Sun and our planet reaches these points regularly every year. The nearest point from the Sun is termed as perihelion and it occurs between January 1-5, while aphelion takes place between July 2-5. Last year’s aphelion occurred on the 4th of july.

At aphelion the Earth is exactly located 4,996,435 km from the sun. This means that we receive 7 percent less radiant heat when we are at the farthest point than in the nearest point from our star.

Sources :
http://www.space.com/16425-earth-farthest-from-sun-2012-aphelion.html
John D. Fix. Astronomy: Journey to the Cosmic Frontier ,2nd Edition. The Mcgraw-Hill Companies, 1999