Periapsis vs Apogee - What's the difference?
periapsis | apogee | Antonyms |
(astronomy) The point of a body's elliptical orbit about the system's centre of mass where the distance between the body and the centre of mass is at its minimum.
(astronomy) The point, in an orbit about the Earth, that is furthest from the Earth: the apoapsis of an Earth orbiter.
(astronomy, more generally) The point, in an orbit about any planet, that is farthest from the planet: the apoapsis of any satellite.
* 1995 , John H. Rogers, The Giant Planet Jupiter , Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-41008-3,
* 2002 , Serge Brunier, Solar System Voyage , Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-80724-1,
* 2010 , Ruth Walker and Mary M. Shaffrey et al., Exploring Space: The High Frontier , Jones & Bartlett Learning, ISBN 978-0-7637-8961-9,
(possibly, archaic, outside, astrology) The point, in any trajectory of an object in space, where it is furthest from the Earth.
(figuratively) The highest point.
* 2004 March 22, :
* '>citation
Apogee is a antonym of periapsis.
In astronomy terms the difference between periapsis and apogee
is that periapsis is the point of a body's elliptical orbit about the system's centre of mass where the distance between the body and the centre of mass is at its minimum while apogee is the point, in an orbit about the Earth, that is furthest from the Earth: the apoapsis of an Earth orbiter.periapsis
English
Noun
(periapsides)Usage notes
In the case of some particular celestial bodies, specialised terms are used.Antonyms
* apoapsisSynonyms
* pericenterSee also
* (Apsis)apogee
English
Noun
(en noun)page 335:
- Conjunctions of I and II [Io and Europa] occur when they are near perigee and apogee respectively; conjunctions of II and III [Europa and Ganymede] occur when II [Europa] is near perigee.
page 36:
- The resolution of the images obtained by this American probe [Messenger] will depend on its altitude [above Mercury] at any one time: about ten meters at perigee (200km altitude), but only one 1 km at apogee (15000km).
page 129:
- [Nereid’s] apogee —farthest point from Neptune—is five times the distance of its perigee—its closest point.
- The cult of the chief executive reached its apogee in the nineteen-nineties, a period when C.E.O.s seemed not so much to serve their companies as to embody them.
