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FACT-CHECK | Aphelion occurs on July 6, 2026, contrary to forwarded messages

By  Fact Check

|  February 18, 2026 - 1:50 pm

Multiple posts and messages forwarded across social media platforms contain claims that the weather will get colder due to the Aphelion Phenomenon, and people should take measures to protect their health.

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These posts are FALSE.

MindaNews is fact-checking this claim as these are not immediately verifiable through forwarded messages. Moreover, other posts have created social media content with the same claim, with no immediate verifiability.

The posts had already been debunked as early as 2023.

Moreover, as early as 2022, Mario Raymundo, senior weather specialist at Pagasa, had explained in an interview with PTV that there is no correlation between aphelion and the weather and human health.

Contrary to the social media posts and messages, aphelion doesn’t last from January until August. What occurs in early January is perihelion.

Moreover, scientific sources say that the perihelion does not affect Earth’s seasons.

One such forwarded message – which MindaNews received on January 7 – reads:

“Starting tomorrow at 5:00 AM: we will experience the APHELION PHENOMENON.

The Earth will be very far from the Sun. We cannot see the phenomenon, but we CAN feel its impact. It will last until the month of August. We will have colder weather than ever before, which can lead to flu, coughing, difficulty breathing, etc.

We must boost our immunity by using plenty of vitamins and supplements to strengthen our health. The distance from the Earth to the Sun is normally 5 light-minutes or 90 million km. During the Aphelion phenomenon, we are 152 million km away from the Sun — that’s 66% further.

The air will become colder, and our bodies are not used to this temperature — it is a significant difference.

We must maintain our health as best we can. Whether it is cloudy or sunny, the cold will increase just the same!!!

Please share this information with all your family and friends, as many people as possible, so they too can take precautions.”

Here are some of those Facebook posts:

One of these, posted by Baguio City Views Baguio City Views and apparently just a Filipino translation of the same message above, says:

Simula bukas ng 5:00 AM: mararanasan natin ang #APHELION #PHENOMENON. Ang Earth ay magiging napakalayo mula sa Araw.

Hindi natin nakikita ang kababalaghan, ngunit ramdam natin ang epekto nito. Ito ay tatagal hanggang sa buwan ng Agosto. Magkakaroon tayo ng mas malamig na panahon kaysa dati, na maaaring humantong sa trangkaso, pag-ubo, kahirapan sa paghinga, atbp. Dapat nating palakasin ang ating kaligtasan sa pamamagitan ng paggamit ng maraming bitamina at suplemento upang palakasin ang ating kalusugan.

The post has since gathered a few engagements.

CHRESTHETIC , a business page, shared a similar content about the Aphelion Phenomenon on January 8, ending its post with a pitch to buy its products – jackets, hoodies, and sweaters – “to keep safe” from the supposed effects of such a phenomenon.

Debunking the claims

According to a post on Britannica, aphelion, in astronomy, is the point in the orbit of a planet, comet, or other body most distant from the Sun. When the Earth is at its aphelion in early July, it is about 4,800,000 km (3,000,000 miles) farther from the Sun than when at its perihelion (the point of the Earth’s orbit that is nearest to the Sun) in early January.

In its calendar of astronomical events for January 2026, state weather bureau Pagasa says perihelion occurred on January 4 at 1:16 a.m. (Philippine Standard Time).

According to National Geographic, the perihelion in 2026 happened on January 3 at 12:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time or 17:15 UTC, about two weeks after the December solstice. Philippine Standard Time is 13 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time.

The same National Geographic post explains: “While Earth’s changing distance from the sun does affect our climate, perihelion does not have a drastic impact on our seasons.”

“…Perihelion increases the intensity of sunlight reaching Earth by about seven percent compared to aphelion. Since perihelion happens in January, that extra energy primarily affects the Southern Hemisphere, which is tilted toward the sun at the time. While that means Southern Hemisphere summers are slightly more intense than Northern Hemisphere summers, the impact on temperature remains modest.”

A post on Farmers Almanac says: “Aphelion 2026 occurs on July 6, 2026 at 1:31 p.m. At the moment of aphelion, the Sun will be over 94 million miles away, or over 3 million miles farther as compared to when the Earth is closest to it (perihelion).”

“While three million miles may sound significant, Earth’s overall distance from the Sun is so great that this change in distance has virtually no effect on weather patterns,” the post clarifies. (H. Marcos Mordeno / MindaNews)

As with all our other reports, MindaNews welcomes fact check leads or suggestions from the public. 



About MindaNews Fact Check

MindaNews Fact Check seeks to fight misinformation and disinformation circulating on the internet, news platforms and communities that we serve.

What is MindaNews Fact Check?
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Methodology

As a news media organization, we strictly adhere to accuracy, fairness, balance, independence, accountability and transparency not just in our fact-checking initiative but in all other aspects of our work at MindaNews. We fact-check a claim that is specifically claimed to be a fact and involved the public interest or the welfare of the people. We debunk false claims using official government records, journals or interviews with experts. We don’t fact check opinions.

How Do We Fact Check?


Correction Policy

Consistent with our trust for factual reporting, we will rectify any error that we have committed. If you spot a factual error, you may notify the MindaNews Editors.
Correction Process
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About MindaNews

Mindanao Institute of Journalism​

MindaNews is the news service arm of the Mindanao Institute of Journalism (MinJourn). MindaNews was founded in 2001 by independent, professional Mindanawon journalists who left the country’s most widely-circulated Manila-based broadsheet to tell the stories of Mindanao from the lenses of Mindanawons.
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About MindaNews Fact Check

MindaNews Fact Check seeks to fight misinformation and disinformation circulating on the internet, news platforms and communities that we serve.
 
What is MindaNews Fact Check?
MindaNews Fact Check tracks and debunks fake news, false claims and misleading statements of government officials, civil society leaders and netizens being spread on the internet, especially on social media sites. MindaNews values truth and accuracy in performing our journalistic work.
Why we fact-check?
Politicians, government officials and other public and private figures at times tend to bend facts to suit or advance their vested interests, or their principals, in effect misleading the public. The distorted facts spread easily with the popularity of the internet and the wide influence of social media.
 
As independent journalists, our primordial duty is to tell the truth and present facts to help the public discern issues and concerns impacting their lives.
How do we rate claims?

FAKE – if the claim is completely invented.

FALSE – if the claim contradicts, undermines or disputes truthful facts, actual events and official records (i.e. laws and scientific studies)

MISLEADING – if the claim is based on truth but maliciously twisted that gives a different impression to serve a group or individual’s vested interests.

ALTERED – pertains to images or videos that were manipulated to mislead the public.

MISSING CONTEXT – if the claim needs more clarification or contextualization to make it clearer.
 
Where do you post your results?
We post our fact-checked stories in mindanews.com, on Facebook and Twitter with links to the original piece. We have a dedicated fact check page, where all fact-checked stories can be found.
How did MindaNews Fact Check start?

Since its establishment in 2001, MindaNews has been living up to its vision of being the “leading provider of accurate, timely and comprehensive news and information on Mindanao and its peoples, serving economically, politically and culturally empowered communities” and its mission to “professionally and responsibly cover Mindanao events, peoples and issues to inform, educate, inspire and influence communities.”

MindaNews was founded by reporters precisely to ensure that reports about Mindanao, an island grouping that has suffered misinformation and disinformation long before these words became fashionable, are accurate.
 
Our policy has always been to ensure that reports are thoroughly vetted before they are dispatched and uploaded on our website.
 
Our fact-checking initiative with a uniform format started in October 2021 as part of Internews’ pioneering Philippine Fact-Checker Incubator (PFCI) project. Internews is an international non-profit that supports independent media from 100 countries.
 
Prior to the PFCI project, MindaNews co-founded Tsek.ph, a collaboration among Philippine media institutions to fight disinformation and misinformation during the 2019. Tsek.ph did the same thing for the 2022 elections.
 
Where do you get funds?
MindaNews has sustained its operation through proceeds from subscriptions of its news service (news, special reports, opinion pieces, photos) and sales of books. It also receives grants from non-state actors. Editorial prerogative, however, is left entirely to MindaNews.
 
MindaNews does not accept funds from politicians or domestic or foreign states for its fact-checking initiative. For the other operations of MindaNews as a media organization, we have received grants from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The grants from NED and UNESCO have been used for coverage, staff compensation, administrative expenses, and to train fellow journalists.
 
For MindaNews’ fact-checking initiatives, it received support from Internews (September 2021 to October 2022) and the BUILD grant administered by the International Fact-Checking Network (August 1, 2023 to July 31, 2024).
 
As a matter of policy, MindaNews does not allow these funders to interfere in our editorial processes.
 
Do you accept leads from the public for your fact-checking initiative?
 
MindaNews encourages the public to provide us with leads not only for potential fact-check pieces but other news stories as well of interest to the general public.
Our fact checks include this paragraph encouraging readers to be part of the process: “As with all our other reports, MindaNews welcomes leads or suggestions from the public to potential fact check pieces.”

MindaNews Fact Check - Methodology

What standards do you follow when fact-checking?


As a news organization, we strictly adhere to accuracy, fairness, balance, independence, accountability and transparency not just in our fact-checking initiative but in all other aspects of our work at MindaNews.


We abide by the Philippine Press Institute’s Journalist’s Code of Ethics. Since we became part of Internews’ Philippine Fact-Checker Incubator project, we have been striving to adhere with the IFCN Code of Principles, in step with our organization’s commitment to non-partisanship, transparency and fairness.


We fact-check a claim that is specifically claimed to be a fact and involved the public interest or the welfare of the people. We debunk false claims using official government records, journals or interviews with experts. 


We don’t fact-check opinions.

How do we fact-check?

Step 1: Team members monitor press conferences, speeches, statements, news, interviews, social media sites, etc. for statements worth fact-checking.


Step 2: When a claim is worth fact-checking, a team member looks for multiple sources to dispute the claim, including tracing the original source document.


Step 3:  Fact-checked claims are then submitted to the editor for copy editing and vetting. The link/s to debunk the claim are always included in the story.  


Step 4: A rating card is prepared to accompany the fact-checked piece, or infographics if needed, to immediately flag readers what the article is all about. 


Step 5: The senior editor takes another look before the article is posted on the website and social media accounts.

Correction Policy

Consistent with our vision and mission as a media institution, we rectify any error committed. If you spot a factual error, you may notify us thru editor@mindanews.com or our Facebook Messenger @Mindanews.


Correction Workflow


  • Errors pointed out are immediately brought to the attention of the editors and the fact-checking team. 


  • The fact-checker is immediately notified for verification. 


  • Once verified, the error is to be corrected within 24 hours and vetted before publication on the website. 


  • Readers will immediately know errors have been corrected through the Editor’s note posted above the article. 


  • The person who notified MindaNews about the error will be informed that the correction has been made.

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About MindaNews

MindaNews is the news service arm of the Mindanao Institute of Journalism (MinJourn). It is composed of independent, professional journalists who believe and practice people empowerment through media. MinJourn, which is duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission with registration number CN201700385, is managed by its Board of Directors.

MindaNews values its journalistic independence. It started in May 2001 as a media cooperative and in January 2017 registered as a nonstock, nonprofit media organization.  We do not  accept funding from politicians, political parties or partisan groups.

Editorial staff

Fact-checking Unit: Romer (Bong) Sarmiento, Yas D. Ocampo

 

Mindanao Institute of Journalism

 

Board of Directors

President & CEO: Jowel Canuday, D.Phil. (oxon.)
Vice President: Romer S. Sarmiento

Members
Carolyn O. Arguillas, M.A.
Rhodora Gail T. Ilagan, Ph.D.
Amalia B. Cabusao (Doc Can.)
Robert D. Timonera
Ellen P. Alinea