The Summer and Winter Solstices occur a few weeks before or after the points in our orbit when the Earth is closest and furthest from the sun (I think the order depends on what hemisphere you're in). Is that just a coincidence? Or is the timing of the solstices (which AFAIK are just down when the tilt of the earth is maximum relative to the plane of the orbit) somehow related to the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit?
Or have I totally failed to understand how this works?
