The Earth has an elliptical orbit around the sun. It is not the distance of the Earth from the sun that causes the different seasons, but rather the way the Earth is tilted on its axis in relation to the way the rays of the sun hit us.
Earth's path around the Sun is not circular, nor is the Sun situated at the center of this path. Instead, Earth's orbit is elliptical, with the Sun closer to one end of the orbital path than the other. This means that Earth’s distance from the Sun varies throughout the year.
It is a common misconception that seasons occur because of Earth's elliptical orbit around the Sun, with winter occurring when Earth is farthest away from the Sun, and summer when it is closest to it.
However, our planet's distance from the Sun has little effect on the onset of seasons. In fact, Earth is closest to the Sun, or at its Perihelion, around the Northern Hemisphere's winter solstice, while it is farthest away from the Sun, or at its Aphelion, around the north's summer solsticeA brief explanation for the misconception that in the northern hemisphere, we have summer heat because we are closer to the sun.
While the variation of Earth’s distance from the Sun isn’t very large, our planet receives more solar energy when it is closest to the Sun during Southern Hemisphere's summer. However, because there are relatively few landmasses south of the equator and oceans take more time to heat up, the temperature difference between the northern and southern summers is very small.
A little more information.
A video to watch to help explain.
looking at mercury through telescope
Mercury is much smaller than the earth.
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