Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The point at which an orbiting object is closest to the center of mass of the body it is orbiting.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun 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.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (astronomy) the point in an orbit closest to the body being orbited

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

peri- +‎ apsis

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word periapsis.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.