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  1. aphelion love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. The point on the orbit of a celestial body that is farthest from the sun.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. That point of a planet's or of a comet's orbit which is most distant from the sun: opposed to perihelion.

Wiktionary

  1. n. astronomy The point in the elliptical orbit of a planet, comet, etc., where it is farthest from the sun.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Astron.) That point of a planet's or comet's orbit which is most distant from the sun, the opposite point being the perihelion.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. apoapsis in solar orbit; the point in the orbit of a planet or comet that is at the greatest distance from the sun

Etymologies

  1. Greek form of Latin aphelium, from Ancient Greek ἀπό (apo, "from") + ἥλιος (hēlios, "sun") (modelled after apogaeum). Compare perihelion. (Wiktionary)
  2. From New Latin aphēlium : Greek apo-, apo- + Greek hēlios, sun. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “In order for this result to be produced, the earth must reach that part of its orbit known as aphelion, where the distance from its controlling centre is greatest, so that the eccentricity of the moon's orbit is always an indication of the position of the earth in its relation to the sun.”

    Aether and Gravitation

  • “At the opposite point of its orbit, where it will be in "aphelion," or farthest from the sun, the sun will only appear about 19 minutes in diameter.”

    To Mars via The Moon An Astronomical Story

  • “The first colonists arrived only to learn that they had to contend with a winter twenty times the duration of summer and so extreme it froze the atmosphere to the surface well after aphelion to the primary.”

    Mandala « A Fly in Amber

  • “Criminy, I almost forgot: on July 4th, at roughly 08: 00 UT, the Earth was at aphelion.”

    Does the Sun Look Smaller to You? | Disinformation

  • “So whether or not Pluto is moving towards perihelion or aphelion that doesn't determine its "spring" or "autumn", does it?”

    New Hubble Images Show Pluto is Changing | Universe Today

  • “Comets, with their hugely eccentric orbits, may pass far beyond the outer planets to spend their aphelion in the vast interstellar darkness beyond the Kuiper Belt .”

    Planet-x.com.au » artnouveauho: Aphelion

  • “In 12,900 years, the North will have colder winters because Earth will be furthest from the Sun (aphelion) in January.”

    Milankovitch cycles

  • “When the orbit is more elliptical, the perihelion is closer to the Sun and the aphelion is farther away than when the orbit is more circular.”

    Milankovitch cycles

  • “Scotsman James Croll combined the eccentricity of the orbit and the precession and in the 1860s and 1870s presented his ideas on the effects of the cycles and how they might influence climate, especially the colder winters when they correspond with the aphelion.”

    Milankovitch cycles

  • “Figure 1: Position of the equinoxes, solstices, aphelion, and perihelion on the Earth's orbit.”

    Earth-Sun geometry

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antonyms (1)

Words with the opposite meaning

  1. perihelion

hypernyms (2)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. apoapsis
  1. point of apoapsis

same context (9)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. home-country
  1. tinkler
  1. anchoring-place
  1. northermost
  1. nullah
  1. waypoint
  1. Peking
  1. opalescence
  1. tumuli

reverse dictionary (9)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. aphelia
  1. comet
  1. SteveSw
  1. apsis
  1. aph
  1. aphelian
  1. Pluto
  1. perihelion
  1. line

tags (3)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. astronomy
  1. vccvcvvc
  1. ph

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Lists

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  • chained_bear "... in astronomy, is that part of a planet's orbit which is at the greatest distance from the sun, being that end of the greater axis of the elliptic orbit of the planet, most remote from the focus wherein the sun is placed; and is, therefore, opposed to Perihelion.

    "The times of the aphelia of the primary planets may be known by their apparent diameter appearing the smallest, and also by their moving with the least velocity, in a given time. They may likewise be found by calculation, which De Lande, De la Caille, and other astronomical writers treat of at large."
    —Falconer's New Universal Dictionary of the Marine (1816), 19 Oct 12, 2008

  • milosrdenstvi Surprisingly, this word is pronounced properly "a-phelion" instead of the common "ap-helion", as in Greek the pi + rough breathing elides to phi. Granted, in the more ancient pronunciation phi *is in fact pronounced as an aspirated pi, but that approaches pedantry. For comparison see ephemeral. Sep 19, 2008

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‘aphelion’ has been looked up 2209 times, loved by 5 people, added to 32 lists, commented on 2 times, and has a Scrabble score of 13.