Good drawing of Earth's orbit for model? Possibly vector file?

[LightningInAJar]

TL;DR

Does anyone know where a 2D drawing of the earth's orbit can be found?

I would like to create a 3D printable model of the earth's orbit around the sun and slice it into the months of the year. So basically a calendar. Except I wanted to add heights for relative local weather conditions for a given year. Does anyone know the best way to draw our orbit?

 

[renormalize]

TL;DR: Does anyone know where a 2D drawing of the earth's orbit can be found?

How precise does the drawing have to be? According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apsis, the Earth's orbital radius at aphelion vs. perihelion in AU is $1\pm0.0167$. That's less than 2% deviation from a perfect circle. Is depicting Earth's orbit as a simple circle close enough for your graphical purposes?

 

[Filip Larsen]

Except I wanted to add heights for relative local weather conditions for a given year.

The seasonal variations in weather on Earth are primarily driven by the tilt of the Earths spin axis relative its orbit around the Sun, and to a much lesser degree by the (small) variation in distance to the Sun. In this context what do you then mean by "height"?

 

[LightningInAJar]

How precise does the drawing have to be? According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apsis, the Earth's orbital radius at aphelion vs. perihelion in AU is $1\pm0.0167$. That's less than 2% deviation from a perfect circle. Is depicting Earth's orbit as a simple circle close enough for your graphical purposes?

I want to be precise even if it might not be noticeable with a 3D printer's level of detail. Would it not be visually noticeable to see the Earth closer to the sun in the N hemis winter?

 

[LightningInAJar]

The seasonal variations in weather on Earth are primarily driven by the tilt of the Earths spin axis relative its orbit around the Sun, and to a much lesser degree by the (small) variation in distance to the Sun. In this context what do you then mean by "height"?

I mean there would be a base thickness of the model in general and for example increase thickness in different pie sections based on say average temp or rain fall.

 

[FactChecker]

If you are talking about average temp or rain fall in a particular location, the tilt of the Earth's axis is much more significant than the shape of the orbit. If you are talking about global surface temperature, you should be aware that there is a great deal of random behavior in that data. I doubt that you will detect the effect of the orbit shape without an enormous amount of accurate data.

 

[renormalize]

I want to be precise even if it might not be noticeable with a 3D printer's level of detail. Would it not be visually noticeable to see the Earth closer to the sun in the N hemis winter?

Suppose you draw the orbit as a 200mm (approximately 8 inch) diameter circle centered on the sun. Then the actual position of the Earth in northern winter would be shifted by less than 2mm to the inside of the circle. How visually noticeable do you consider that?

 

[Filip Larsen]

How visually noticeable do you consider that?

Wikipedia's page on Earth's orbit has a nice drawing that might aide in that assessment:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth's_orbit#/media/File:EarthsOrbit_en.png

 

[LightningInAJar]

If you are talking about average temp or rain fall in a particular location, the tilt of the Earth's axis is much more significant than the shape of the orbit. If you are talking about global surface temperature, you should be aware that there is a great deal of random behavior in that data. I doubt that you will detect the effect of the orbit shape without an enormous amount of accurate data.

I wanted to make the model just to give a visual of the weather of a given year. The cause of weather change doesn't matter to me. Just a freeze frame of a year.

 

[FactChecker]

I wanted to make the model just to give a visual of the weather of a given year. The cause of weather change doesn't matter to me. Just a freeze frame of a year.

That's an important clarification.

 

[LightningInAJar]

That's an important clarification.

The Earth's orbit is a perfect eclipse? No weird warps at either end? I still want to be kind of authentic with it. And how does one identify locations along the path in reference to a day of the year for a given year?

 

[renormalize]

The Earth's orbit is a perfect eclipse? No weird warps at either end?

The Earth's orbit is an almost-circular ellipse.

 

[FactChecker]

The Earth's orbit is a perfect eclipse?

"Perfect" is a very strong requirement. The Earth/Moon combination is nearly perfect. The Earth alone will be influenced a tiny bit by the Moon.

No weird warps at either end?

No. Nothing in physics is there to give it "weird warps".

I still want to be kind of authentic with it. And how does one identify locations along the path in reference to a day of the year for a given year?

@Filip Larsen 's post #8 should help you in that.

 

[phyzguy]

@LightningInAJar , doesn't @Filip Larsen 's post #8 give you everything you've asked for?