What are milankovitch cycles?

The Earth goes on a long, slow dance with the Sun because of Milankovitch cycles.

Imagine you're playing with your favorite toy car on a wobbly table. Sometimes it zooms around in big circles, and sometimes it just goes in small ones. That's kind of what happens with Earth, it changes how it orbits the Sun over thousands of years, like a slow, wobbling dance.

There are three main moves in this dance:

1. The tilt of Earth’s axis, imagine tilting your toy car forward or backward.
2. The shape of Earth's orbit, sometimes it goes around the Sun in a circle, and sometimes it’s more oval-shaped.
3. The wobble of Earth’s axis, like when you spin your toy car really fast, it might wobble side to side.

These moves change how much sunlight different parts of Earth get over time, which can make whole areas colder or warmer. That's why we've had ice ages and warm periods in the past, all because of this slow dance with the Sun!